


Working Overtime

by Codydarkstalker



Series: In A Better World (Deep Dish Nine) [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: AU, Age Difference, Deep Dish Nine, Humans, M/M, Pizza, age gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-04-29 18:12:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5137637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Codydarkstalker/pseuds/Codydarkstalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julian Bashir is living on his own for the first time. He has his first job, working part time in a pizzeria, and he's finally beginning to feel like a normal person. But the more time he spends at work, the more he notices the older man who works in the tailor shop next door, and what starts as a bit of awkward flirting turns into something more as he becomes almost obsessed with learning more about the mysterious man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, for NANOWRIMO 2015, I decided to give a long fanfic a try. My chapters may not be too long, but expect a lot of updates really quick.
> 
> Also, THANK YOU to all the awesome DD9 writers, you guys got me hooked on this AU, and the best way I could think to say thank you to this odd little corner of the fandom was to spend a month writing a novel about it.

Julian stared up at the flourescent lights, trying to will himself to move. He had been working since the restaurant opened, and up late studying the night before. He had just gone on break, but he still had another two hours left in his shift before he could go home and throw himself down on his couch. He momentarily toyed with the idea of playing one of his computer games when he got home, but dismissed the idea after a moment, he was a bit too tired to socialize.

Lately it felt like his whole world had been reduced to shuffling between his tiny apartment, his classes, and the pizza place where he worked. Any moment not spent working, he studied. Any moment not spent working or studying, he slept. It wasn’t even that his classes were that hard, he had been getting near perfet grades for years. But he was new to the area, and it was easy to simply fall into the pattern of doing nothing but working. 

The small bit of socializing he did manage to do was at work. He had been surprised by how much he enjoyed working at Deep Dish Nine. He had been worried he would be a bit of a failure, having never held any sort of job before, but he was proving himself to be somewhat competent, and what he lacked in work skills, he felt he more than made up for in sheer eagerness to help.

He looked around the resaurant and smiled to himself, remembering the first time he had really taken note of the place.It was a fairly small pizzeria with an attached restaurant, set in the middle of a strip mall. His apartment was in one of the upper floors on the building, and he had noticed the “help wanted” sign in the window on his way to class a few months ago. His tuition was paid for thanks to a number of scholarships, but he had very little in the way of spare money for things like food. 

When he finally worked up the nerve to go inside the pizza place a few days later, he had been almost overwhelmed by the owner. Benjamin Sisko was a big man, with a big voice, and standing there in a sauce splattered apron with a huge grin spreading across his face, he made for quite a sight.

“You ever worked in a place like this before?” He asked julian, gesturing aroudn with a wooden spoon.

Julian shook his head, blushing a bit. ‘I’ve never worked much of anywhere. I wasn’t allows to have a part time job when I was in highschool, my parents wanted me to focus on my classes.” He had been certain he wasn’t going to get the job. He had no experience at all, and he was sure a lot of other students in the area must have applied as well.

Sisko had looked at him critically for a long moment. “You got good grades?”

“Very.”

“You going to school now?”

“Yes, I’m a first year medical student.”

The older man had stared at him hard for a moment before smiling and grabbing his hand, shaking it vigorously. “Head in back and talk to Kira, she’s the general manager, she can draw you up your work schedule and give you a uniform.”

Julian had been surprised at his own excitement at the news. He was almost as excited at the prospect of working in a pizza place as he had been when he received his letter of acceptance to the medical school of his choice. As he headed to the back of the building he couldn’t keep a silly grin from spreading over his face. It was to his credit that it only wavered a bit when he was introduced to Kira Nerys, a small, pretty woman with dark eyes and a darker expression. 

She looked him up and down for a moment, making Julian feel a bit like a piece of meat whose quality was being judged, and then heaved a great sigh. 

“So, you’re who Sisko decided to hire?” She grimaced. “You know, most of the applicant were high school students.”

Julian shrugged sheepishly. “I live upstairs and I go to school nearby, this just seemed sort of perfect.”

Kira nodded and then turned on her heel and rummaged through a back cabinet. When she turned she was holding a bundle of bright red fabric. “Here.” She thrust it at him. “You’re pretty skinny, so I gave you a small, if it’s too short you can either wear an undershirt or I can find you a shirt in a larger size, but I think you would be swimming in it. Make sure you keep it clean, we have aprons here for messy work. There’s no official dress code but remember the kitchen gets hot, and the floors get slippery.” She paused a moment and turned around, pulling something else from the cabinet. “You also get this.” She placed a bright red baseball hat on his head, smooshing down his curls a bit. “Welcome to Deep Dish Nine.”


	2. Chapter 2

Julian sighed and stared at his cell phone accusingly, it was beeping at him loudly, demanding that he wake up. It was early, too early to be awake on a saturday. But he had work, and if there was one thing worse than getting up early it was getting yelled at by Kira. She was a good manager, but also a bit intense at times.

He groaned and rolled out of bed, wincing a bit as his feet touched the cold wood floor. He padded over to the bathroom and took a quick shower before changing into his uniform. Kira had been right about the shirt being a bit short, so he usually just wore a tank top underneath. He wore a plain pair of black skinny jeans to work. He glanced at himself in the long mirror on his closet door and pulled a face. 

“I look a bit ridiculous, don’t I?” He turned to look at his bed.   
His teddy bear looked back at him impassively. 

He sighed and grabbed his hat off the dresser and jammed it on his head. He gave himself a cheeky grin in the mirror and headed for the door, grabbing his hoodie on the way out. Despite the early hour, there was already a good deal of activity going on in the building. Miles O’Brien, the superintendent of the building, was in the lobby on the first floor, the button panel for the elevator had been pried off the wall and there was a mess of wires at his booted feet.

“Hey there Julian, on your way to work?” Miles looked up from his tool box and smiled at the younger man. It had taken him a little time to get used to Julian, most of the college students who had rented apartments in the building before had been a bit wild, and he had been expecting the same bad behavior out him.

“Unfortunately, yes. I’m helping open today.” Julian surveyed the mess of tools and wiring. “Elevator get stuck again?”

Miles grunted and affirmative and kicked at the elevator door. “Yeah, thankfully no one’s in it, but we won’t be able to use the damned thing til I can get a spare part for the button wiring tomorrow.”

“Well, good luck getting it all working again. Maybe if you have some free time after fixing it tomorrow we could play a game of racquetball down at the Y?” Julian asked. 

They had run into each other a few times at the YMCA, and after a bit of somewhat awkward chatting, they had both revealed an interest in the game. Indeed O’Brien had told Julian he had been an avid player before his time in the army, and was more than happy to accept when Julian had invited him to play a game. Julian was also a regular player, it was something he had gotten interested in when he was a freshman in college, and he was happy to find the skills he had picked up were doing him some good.

WIth the possible promise of some time with a friend away from work and school, Julian set off for the pizzeria with a much happier outlook than usual. He was finally getting the sense that, after three months of living in his new place, he was finally truly settling in. He smiled as he stepped out of the building. The sun was up and there was a crisp breeze. He walked along the side of the building and came to the front where the stores were. 

In addition to Deep Dish Nine there were two other stores in front of the building. To one side there was Quark’s Bar, Grill and Gaming. It was a somewhat seedy looking place, with part of the bar being a level down from the street it often seemed like patrons were descending into some kind of den of sin when they entered. This early the bar was closed, and there was no sign of Quark or his brother Rom yet. Normally Rom came in in the afternoon when his son got out of school so they could lean the bar and set up for that night’s customers. Despite the bar having a less than savory reputation, Quark had a shockingly good relationship with Sisko. Sisko’s son Jake was good friends with Rom’s son Nog, and after a brief period of animosity, the brothers had become good friends with the pizzeria owner. They even made a deal to start selling Deep Dish Nine pizzas on their bar menu. 

To the other side of Deep Dish Nine was a smaller storefront, a tailor’s shop. Gark’s Tailoring was a small business, but it seemed to be doing fairly well. There was a steady stream of regular customers that came and went to the shop, most of them much more well dressed and in much nicer cars than the people who stopped in at the other strip mall locations. Julian sometimes idly wondered why the man running the place did not move to a nicer shop in a better part of town. 

The shop owner, Garak, was a bit of a mystery to Julian. When Julian first moved into the building he hadn’t even known that the stores in front were all owned by men who lived in the apartments upstairs. It was only after he started to pay a bit more attention that he began to notice the comings and goings of Ben and Jake or Quark and Rom. Now that he knew them all better it wasn’t odd for him to find himself having a casual chat with them in the elevator or greeting them by the group of mailboxes on the first floor. Garak, however, never seemed to be in any of the usual places at any of the usual times. 

So it was a great surprise to Julian when he nearly crashed into the mystery man outside his store. To be fair, it was all Julian’s fault, He had been staring dreamily at the sky, trying to appreciate it while he could before he was confined to indoors for work. So he completely failed to notice the main standing in front of the tailor’s shop until the last possible moment.

Julian made a quick attempt to avoid a crash by veering to the side, but on the one side of him was the building, and on the other the road. His foot hit the edge of the curb and started to slide off, his momentum carrying him forward on a collision course. The other man, obviously a bit more coordinated, managed to sidestep him, and reached out an arm to catch him before he fell flat on the pavement.

“My goodness! Are you quite alright?”

Julian looked up, eyes going even wider. The man holding him was a good bit older than he was, probably somewhere towards his mid thirties, with longish black hair swept back from his face and extremely pale skin. None of that really caught his attention though, the thing that made him momentarily unable to speak was the bright blue of the man’s eyes. They were a cold blue, and they seemed to be staring at him hard enough to melt his skin.

“I-I’m fine.” Julian suddenly realized he was still in the man’s arms and made a sudden scramble to get up and on his feet. “I’m sorry about almost crashing into you,” he added lamely.

“Oh, that’s fine. A bit of excitement in the morning keeps me awake.” The man smiled widened, and it suddenly appeared to Julian that he was baring his teeth rather than trying to be friendly.

“I was just, just on my way to work you see.” Julian pointed at the pizzeria. “I work in the pizza shop, and I didn’t want to be late or my manager would be upset, and she’s not that pleasant when she’s upset. And I’m still rather new, I don’t want to make a bad impression.” Julian snapped his mouth shut suddenly, realizing he was babbling. He had a bad habit of doing that.  
The other man, for his part, didn’t seem annoyed, but rather amused. “Well, if you’re new that explains why I haven’t seen you before. I am Garak, I own this tailor shop. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He held his hand out for Julian to shake.

Julian did so, fighting the urge to blush. He had been babbling but hadn’t managed to say his own name. Great start. “I’m Julian, Julian Bashir.”

“Well it’s very nice to meet you Julian.” His smile softened for a moment. “Maybe I will see you around sometime soon. I do enjoy meeting new people.”

Before Julian could respond, the man had turned and slipped inside the door to the shop, clicking the lock closed behind him. Julian paused for a moment to look into the shop window, but the lights remained off and all he could see what his own reflection, a silly wide eyes look on his face and his cap askew. He was drawn out of the moment by his phone vibrating in his pocket. When he pulled it out he nearly fell over again. There was a text message from Kira. 

WHERE R U?

Sorry! Running late! Be right there!!

He shoved his phone back into his pocket and hurried away towards the pizzeria, pushing aside his thoughts of the tailor. Kira was waiting at the register, sorting through a pile of receipts. 

“Hurry up and help Worf in the back. And don’t make it a habit, showing up late.” Kira didn’t bother looking up as she ordered him around. Julian tried not to take it personally, but it still stung a bit. He couldn’t help but think Kira simply didn’t like him much. He tried to work hard, but he knew he sometimes got under her skin. He resisted the urge to explain his lateness and instead simply headed to the back to help with the prep work. 

Worf was an imposing figure in the kitchen, even taller than Julian, but much broader. HIs long mane had been pulled back and braided to keep it out of his way while we worked. He was wearing a large pair of noise headphones, and wielding a huge vegetable cleaver with surprising delicacy. 

Julian tapped him on the shoulder and ducked quickly as the larger man swung around, knife still in hand.   
“Worf! It’s just me! Kira sent me back here to help you.” Julian pressed himself against the wall, hands up in a defensive position.

Worf carefully place the knife on the counter and then pull off his headphones, the sound of extremely loud classical music spilling out. “You should be more careful,” he said, eyes serious under his extremely heavy brows. “Sneaking around when people are holding weapons is a sure way to get injured.”

“I wasn’t sneaking! I came in to help.” Julian protested. “And that’s not a weapon it’s a knife for cutting vegetables.”

Worf looked down at the cleaver. “With that vegetable knife i could take off your head.”

Julian nodded, deciding it was better to move on, away from the topic of large, sharp objects. “Well, what do you want me to do to help?”

Worf gestured with his knife. “Go get the ingredients for the dough and start measuring them out. We will being making the dough now so it has ample time to rise later, and then we can separate it into portions for pizzas later. 

Julian nodded and headed to the storeroom to get the flour and salt and other things they would need. He liked helping in the kitchen, it wasn’t that hard so long as he followed the directions of Worf and Mr. Sisko, and he felt like he was actually learning a real life skill. He still wasn’t really a cook, he didn’t make the sauces or come up with idea for pizza toppings or anything like that, but he was often tasked with things like peeling carrots or chopping onions. Also, just about anything was preferable to bussing tables and mopping. 

The morning passed peacefully enough. Deep Dish Nien was quiet in the morning, no one really came in before eleven, since they only served lunch and dinner, so opening was mostly about prep work. Cleaning was done regularly so nothing really got that dirty, and Julian was happy to spend the time before opening shuffling around the kitchen under Worf’s direction.

Just before eleven, the other people working that day began to file in. The first to enter were Mr. Sisko and his son, Jake. Jake often helped out in the restaurant on weekends, bussing tables and taking orders in between working on his homework and his short stories. Julian had seen part of one on his tablet, left in the break room, and he had to admit the young man was a rather good writer. They were closely followed by Jadzia Dax, a young woman about his own age. She was a waitress at the restaurant, and also went to school at the same university as Julian, although she was in a completely different part of campus, being a physics major. She had put Julain on age since day one, with her quick wit and startlingly blue eyes. Julian had always liked blue eyes.

“Julian! How are you doing today?” Boomed Sisko, nearly rattling the younger man apart with a hearty clap on the back. 

“I’m fine sir,” Julian wheezed. Mr. Sisko had a tendency to be a little ...intense…sometimes. 

“Good! Good.” Sisko looked around critically. “Well in that case, why don’t you go out front and start cleaning the tables and mopping the floor in the main dining area. I have some cooking to do!”

Julian nodded and headed out front. Kira had finished her bookkeeping and was now wiping down the chalk boards they set up to advertise specials. Jadzia was sitting on the floor with a pack of colored chalk, carefully writing out the menu in large flowing script.

“Hello Julian.” Jadzia looked up at him and smiled. 

“Oh! H-hello! I mean, good morning!” Julian felt his face flush and winced a bit. He had no idea why, but talking to Jadzia was something he had to try very hard to do. If he didn’t pay attention to what he was saying, he stumbled over his words and rambled on for ages. She was just so...pretty. He tried to ignore Kira rolling her eyes as he hurried to the supply closet to get the rags and cleaning chemicals. It was going to be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Elim Garak sat in his tailor shop and stared out at the street through the front window. It was early, and he was enjoying his morning cup of coffee before unlocking the door and flipping the sign out front form “Closed” to “Open”. But for now he had a moment so enjoy himself and relax before his day started.

He smiled to himself as he thought about his encounter in front of the store that morning. Julian Bashir, he mused to himself, was a very interesting young man. He had known someone new had moved into the building not too long ago, but aside from knowing the new tenant was a student, he hadn’t had the slightest notion what the person might be like. He was, he privately admitted to himself, pleased to see what sort of the person it was. There was rather a lack of polite young men in the building, and for all his awkwardness and clumsiness, the boy had certainly been apologetic about their little incident. It was almost cute.

He shook his head, tossed the rest of his coffee back and moved to open up the shop. When he got to the door he couldn’t resist a glance outside. Deep Dish Nine was still closed, the neon light in front of the store hadn’t been turned on yet. But that was to be expected, it was much too early for the lunch crowd.

As Garak sat down at his sewing machine, he glanced at the window again. He had not brought lunch that day, intending to treat himself to a sandwich at the coffee shop a few blocks away. It was a favorite of his, the woman who ran it was a bit standoffish but she served the best coffee in the area, and that was something he could appreciate. Now he found himself thinking idly about getting pizza instead. It had been a while since he stopped by the pizzeria, and it wouldn’t do to go on ignoring his neighbors like that. 

He looked up at the clock, still early, and his first client wasn’t due for a while. He sighed and turned to the sewing machine. He had plenty of work to do. There were pants to hem, a slew of bridesmaids dresses to alter, and a pile of shirts that needed buttons replaced. Mindless work, but it would keep him busy for most of the day. He settled in at the machine, a small smile on his face. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturdays were always a busy time at Deep Dish Nine. Between the nearby college and the large amount of businesses in the area, it wasn’t all that shocking. But it was still new enough for Julian to be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the early afternoon. Mr. Sisko had kept him busy bussing tables and taking orders and packing up food for delivery. Since he was still new, he was under strict orders to stay out of the kitchen during busy times, and he still wasn’t allowed to drive the delivery van yet. Not that he truly minded the last part, the part of the city they were in was old and the roads were a bit narrow and twisted around in complete defiance of all logic. In fact, they were in an outer borough of a Bajoran neighborhood, which had only recently started getting popular with a new highway project that had just finished construction. He had overheard Kira muttering darkly about gentrification more than a few times. 

When he had admitted to Kira privately that he had been a bit nervous moving into the neighborhood, she had flushed red and refused to speak to him for the rest of his shift. When they had finished closing, an awkward silence hung between them. 

He had waited for her to lock up, hands deep in his pockets and eyes trained on the sidewalk. “I’m sorry, for what I said about the neighborhood. I know it isn’t really that unsafe, I just feel a bit out of sorts being so far from home for the first time.”

Kira turned sharply, her eyes narrowed. “Did you know I grew up here?”

Julian flinched. “I did not.”

Kira took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm herself. “I did. I grew up just a few blocks from here. And I know what people think of this area. But it’s my home, and it didn’t used to be like this. My home didn’t become some ghetto overnight. It’s not that simple. The people around here are good people, and they work really hard. But they ended up being the victims of some terrible circumstances. They buildings around here got bought up, the rents went up, and then the construction by the highway started. The neighborhood is just starting to recover and now there’s this huge flood of new people coming in. And it’s hard, it’s really hard.” Her voice had risen as she spoke and by the end she was just short of shouting, and her breath was ragged.

Julian reached out a hand to touch her shoulder and then thought better of it. He wasn’t sure what he could say in this situation. He hadn’t meant to offend Kira but there wasn’t much he could say now to fix things. Instead he simply nodded, and hoped she could read the remorse on his face.

Now, he was more careful when he spoke to her, and it seemed like she had forgiven him. She was generally professional when she was in the restaurant, at least where the customers could see her, so he was bit surprised when she yelled for him angrily that afternoon.

He ran out of the back here he had been cleaning some dishes, and nearly ran back when he saw the look on her face. She was biting her lower lip so hard he was worried she was going to draw blood, and her face was red with anger. 

“Julian,” she grated out through her clenched teeth. “Can you please help this...customer?” She jerked her head behind her and pushed her way past the stunned man to the back room.  
Julian turned towards the counter and blinked in surprise. “Oh, it’s you.”

The man standing at the counter, a patient smile on his face, was the tailor he had nearly ran into that morning. 

“Ah! Hello, Julian was it?” Garak smiled widely, once again giving Julian a sudden thought of an alligator baring it’s teeth. “How nice to see you again.”

Julian forced himself to relax and smile back. “It’s nice to see you again too.” He paused and glanced back towards where Kira had hurried off. “Did something...happen? Between you and Kira that is?”

Garak’s smile faltered for a half of a second, and then was right back in place. “No, not really. I think she just doesn’t like seeing me.”

“Why would she dislike seeing you?” Julian frowned. Kira could be a bit terse with difficult customers, but he had never seen her just abandon her place at the register before. 

Garak shrugged. “It’s no great secret she doesn’t like Cardassians.”

“I see.” Julian wasn’t really familiar with the situation with the Cardassians and the Bajorans, but he knew that the groups did not get along. Mr. O’Brien had tried to explain the problem to him when he first moved in, but the complex issues of foreign struggles was not his strong suit. In fact all he had really taken away from the talk was that even here in the Federation, Bajorans and Cardassians still considered one another the enemy. 

“Well, I can hardly blame her for having such an attitude. But I do hope it doesn’t prevent me from being able to enjoy a lunch here.”

Before Julian could respond he was taped on the shoulder. When he looked behind him he saw Mr. Sisko, arms crossed over his apron, a large wooden spoon held tight in his hand like a weapon. 

“Mr. Garak, how nice to see you.” Sisko kept his voice low, and his face was a perfect mask of calm. “It’s not often you join us for lunch.” His eyes narrowed at the last part. 

Garak shrugged and offered an even wider smile. “I had the sudden craving craving for pizza. Besides, it seems like ages since I last came by the restaurant.” He looked around at the people sitting and eating. “You seem to be doing quite well. So many happy faces.” His gaze fell on julian with those last words.

Mr Sisko gave Julian a sideways glance, arching one eyebrow. “Well, we do strive for...excellent service here at Deep DIsh Nine.” He grabbed JUlian by the shoulder and squeezed tightly. “Julian, after you take care of Mr. Garak you can take your break. I think Kira will be done with hers soon.”

Julian nodded mutely and watched Mr. Sisko and Garak exchange another long look. Then he turned and addressed Garak, trying to force himself to act normally.

“So, what would you like for lunch today?”

Garak paused and gave him a long look, eyes scanning him from head to toe in a way that made Julian feel like he was on the menu. “Oh, I don’t know. How about a slice of the vegetable special?”

Julian nodded and rang him up, moving over to the oven to put in a piece to heat it up. Garak sat down at a small table near the window and pulled out a small paperback form the deep pocket of his coat. He seemed totally engrossed in it almost instantly, completely ignoring everyone around him. He barely looked up to say thank you when Julian brought over the pizza, and the younger man couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of disappointment.

Julian kept an eye on Garak as he cleaned tables. He still couldn’t quite guess the man’s age, but now that he was no longer dying of embarrassment, Julian couldn’t help but note that he was actually rather handsome, in a severe sort of way. His skin was rather pale, and his hair was perfectly black and shiny. Garak had his head down and his eyes trained on his book as he ate. From his position, Julian couldn’t quite make out the title on the cover, but the pages were a bit yellowed and the edges were dog eared. Garak took his time eating and by the time he was done, almost all of the lunch crowd was gone. 

Julian walked over to take his plate. “Do you want anything else?’

Garak shook his head and closed his book, placing a finger between the pages to hold his place. “No, I’m fine thank you. I just like taking a longer lunch break so I can do some reading.”

“What are you reading?” Julian leaned over the table a bit to try and see the book a bit better.

Garak held the book up. It was a work trade paperback, with large red lettering on the cover in a language Julian couldn’t read. “In Standard it would be translated as The Never Ending Sacrifice. It’s an old Cardassian work. Not very popular I’m afraid.”

Julian smiled and reached out a hand. “I’ve actually read it.”

Garak’s eyes widened as he handed over the book. “Really?”

Julian’s smile faltered. “Why? Is that so odd? I like reading, and I took a few classes on foreign literature at school. They were the only liberal arts classes I really enjoyed actually.”

“Well then you have better taste than most.” Garak hesitated a moment. “Have you read anything else by this author?”

Julian shook his head. “No, sadly not. They don’t have much by him at the library, and I can barely afford my textbooks sometimes, so buying books for pleasure is a bit of a luxury I can’t afford.” He turned the book over in his hands. It was worn, obviously well read, but otherwise in good condition. No sign of coffee spills or food stains on the pages. It had always bothered him when people treated books poorly, though he wasn’t sure why.

“I have a number of his works,” said Garak cautiously. “I could maybe lend you one.”

Julian handed the book back, letting his fingers touch the other man’s for a brief moment. “I think I would like that.”


	4. Chapter 4

Garak, Julian quickly learned, had a lot of books. For the next three weeks he would show up on saturday, just after the lunch rush, and wait until Julian had a break and could sit with him. Each time, he brought a new book with him.

Julian began to find himself looking forward to these meetings. At school he was one of dozens of students, smart, but not the best in the class, and he was usually happy to fall into the background. At work, he was beginning to make friends with his coworkers, but he still felt a bit out of place. Miles spent time with him now and then, but he had a wife and a child which didn’t leave a lot of time for playing darts or video games with the kid upstairs. 

The time he spent with Garak was different. Garak always seemed happy to see him, sitting at his little table by the window with a smile and a book ready in his hand. Julian started to think about Garak more and more outside of those meetings. He would be watching TV alone at home, and suddenly wish he could tell Garak his opinion on something a character had said, when he was reading he would become frustrated he couldn’t share his thoughts with Garak until Saturday.

At work on saturday he found himself staring at the clock instead of his work, and after spilling two cups of water and misplacing a pizza cutter, Kira finally snaps.

“Julian! Enough! You need to get yourself together. I don’t know what is going on between you and that...that…” She slowed for a moment, her face twisting up as she struggled to find a noun that conveyed all of her loathing. “That Cardassian!”   
Julian’s face went red. “You don’t have to say it like that! Garak is a nice person. I like him.”  
He bit his bottom lip as the last part slipped out unbidden. He did like Garak, they were quickly becoming good friends. But that was not how he had meant it, and he could only help Kira would not pick up on his little slip.

Jadzia came up the counter and narrowed her eyes at the pair. “Are you two fighting again?”

Kira snorted. “I was just telling Julian to be careful with that...tailor.”

Jadzia nodded knowingly. “That’s good advice. New relationships can be tricky.”

Julian and Kira grimaced in unison. Julian in embarrassment, Kira in something like disgust. 

“Relationship?” they yelped in unison. 

Jadzia nodded solemnly, a glint in her eye. “It isn't as though Julian has been subtle about it.”

Julian felt his face go hot. “I have no idea what you're talking about. We're friends, that's all. We talk about books, that's it.”

Jadzia shrugged. “Well it certainly seemed like you liked him. You’re always so eager for him to show up on Saturdays. And he certainly never came in this often before.”

Kira nodded. “Which I certainly preferred.”

“Besides, he's sort of good looking for an older man. I can see why would like him.”

“Who is sort of good looking for an older man?” 

Julian paled and turned to see Mr.Sisko standing behind him with a little grin. 

Jadzia grinned and leaned in to pat the large man on the arm. “Well of course you're very handsome Benjamin. But we were discussing Julian latest crush.”

Sisko raised an eyebrow. “You mean Mr.Garak?” 

Julian clenched his fists so tight he could feel his fingernails cutting into his palms. He took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. 

“I do not have a crush on Garak.” He ground his words out through his teeth. “And even if I did, I wouldn't want to broadcast it to everyone like this. And I would appreciate it if everyone would just drop it.”

Everyone stared at Julian, wide eyed and silent. Julian pulled his hat off and ran a hand through his hair. 

“I’m sorry for getting angry. I just don't appreciate everyone gossiping about me and Garak as if we're having some torrid affair.” 

“Julian-?” Jadzia tried to interrupt him.

“And really all we've done is talk and trade books. It's not like Garak and I are making out in a back booth like horny teenagers.”

“Julian?” 

Julian continued, heedless of the woman trying to speak. “Even if I did have some sort of...crush...on Garak, talking about us like that still wouldn't be appreciated.”

“Julian!”

“What?” Julian paused for a moment.

Jadzia widened her eyes at him meaningfully and gestured behind him with her chin. 

Julian whirled around to see Garak standing at the counter, biting his lower lip as if trying to stifle a laugh. 

“Oh for fucks sake.” Julian spun on his heel and all but ran into the back.

Garak raised an eyebrow. “I think I interrupted something?”

Jadzia smiled. “I'm sorry, we were just teasing Julian a bit and it sort of got out of hand. None of use meant anything by it.” She gave Kira a hard look as if challenging her to disagree. 

Kira held her hands up defensively. “I'll go get Julian.” She shuffled off quickly, obviously eager to avoid any further interaction with Garak.

Jadzia gave Garak one last smile and moved on to clean some tables and check on her customers. 

“So, it seems you’ve taken rather a liking to the new boy.” Sisko leaned on the counter, looking Garak up and down. 

Garak gave the larger man one of his trademark crocodile grins. “I think you mean the ‘new boy’ has taken rather a liking to me.”

Sisko nodded slowly. “It would seem so.” He leaned over the counter. “But you certainly don't seem to mind.”

“Am I supposed to?” Garak shrugged. “I think it's good to make new friends.”

“Yeah, I bet you do.” Sisko straightened up. “You just make sure to behave yourself. I will have my eye on you.”

At that moment Julian walked up to the counter, face still a little red and eyes trained on the floor. 

“Hello Garak.” He glanced up at the two men, eyes traveling quickly between them. “Can I… can I help you?”

Garak leaned on the counter so he could angle himself a bit closer. “I would like a grilled chicken salad, and if possible your company.” He glanced over at Sisko. “I do believe you have a break soon.”

Julian gave Sisko a quick look, and smiled when the older man gave him a slight nod.   
“Yeah, that would be great.”


	5. Chapter 5

The more time Julian spent with Garak, the more time he found himself wanting to spend with him. He would time his walk to work so that he would run into the tailor as he opened his shop. On his way home from work he would pause outside the store and wave at the man. He carried on like this for two weeks before he realized he was acting like a love sick teenager. 

There was something about his time with Garak that made him excited in a way time with others simply did not. It wasn’t that he was starved for attention. A few of his classmates had tried talking to him, one or two of the girls had even flirted. but he found himself unable to respond to them and their advances the way he responded to Garak. When Garak spoke he found himself hanging on every work. When Garak argued with him, his blood felt hot under his skin. Indeed, it was when the older man challenged him to debate him on some minutiae of literature that he was most in thrall. Garak became more animated in those moments, and his voice would lose it’s almost saccharine fake tone. It was driving Julian a bit mad.

He spent a good deal of his time whining to his teddy bear, who was the only one he felt comfortable talking to about the older man. 

“You know, I don’t even usually like men!” He sprawled on his bed, Kukalaka perched on a pillow.

“...” The bear stared at him doubtfully.

“I may have had a crush here or there, but that’s it.”

“...” The bear seemed skeptical.

“I guess that’s what this is, a crush.” He sat upright and grabbed the bear, pulling him to his face. “I just have a little crush. There’s nothing wrong with being a little interested in a man who’s so smart...and nice...and handsome…” He frowned at his last words and flopped back on the bed again, crushing the bear to his chest. “Oh, Kukalaka, I think I have it bad.”

The next day Julian woke up early and headed to his class with his head still full of Garak. It was hard for him to think of much else. He had started to get closer to the people at work. Jadzia, in particular had proved to be a great friend after he figured out the trick of forgetting how pretty she was when he talked to her. After the awkward run in with Garak in the pizzeria she had suddenly become very sweet to him, going out of her way to be nice to him, and even chiding Kira and Worf when they picked on him. But at the same time, more and more of his focus was on his relationship with Garak.

Lunch had gone from a once in awhile thing to something they did whenever Julian was working the lunch shift. The first time he had brought a book for Garak rather than the other way around, the tailor had been pleased, but surprised.

“What is it?” He had stared at the small usb drive doubtfully. He had, at Julian’s urging, gotten himself an e-reader, and was privately rather pleased with the device. It was certainly nice to be be able to read without carrying around old or heavy texts.

“It’s a favorite of mine, a bit different from what you normally read, but really rather good.” Julian took a sip of his root beer and smiled. They were at their normal table by the window, and he had just gone on break. “It’s actually two books. The Iliad and The Odyssey. They’re epics by Homer, an ancient Greek writer. They tell the story of the Trojan war, and then the story of a man who went on a great adventure trying to return home to his wife and child. I think you’ll like Odysseus he was a hero famed not for his strength in battle, but for his wits.”

Garak had raised an eyebrow. “Well it certainly sounds interesting, but I wouldn’t say a war story is all that far from what I normally read.”

Julian shook his head. “This one is different. This isn’t a story about the glory of battle and service to the state. In fact, the king who ordered the attack on Troy is shown in a rather unfavorable light. The king is one of the worst characters. Personally, I rather like the character Achilles.”

Garak simply smiled and tucked the usb drive into his pocket. “Well, I’m sure it will be interesting. You have remarkably good taste for someone so young.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” The words had been out before Julian could think better of it, and he had busied himself with fussing with the straw in his soda so he would be able to hide his flushed face. He swore he didn’t remember blushing so much before he had taken this job.

Garak raised his eyebrows and then quickly smoothed out his face into a more neutral expression. “I might have some idea.” He had flashed a toothy grin then that made Julian’s face go red all over again.   
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Garak settled into the soft cushions of his couch, tea in one hand and e reader in the other. It had been a busy week at the tailor shop, there had been a wedding party that all needed things altered, tuxedo jackets to let out, dresses to hem, and he had been too busy to really devote much time to the books Julian had lent him. But he intended to get some reading done that night. 

Julian had never lent him a book before, he had always been the one offering the boy something. It had been nice to see the young man get so excited about literature. When he came into the shop for their luncheons Julian’s face would light up as soon as he saw him, and when he sat down he was always full to bursting with thoughts about what he had read. 

When he had finished the first book he had been hesitant to give any real criticism, seemingly thinking that Garak might take offense. But really, the older man enjoyed their discussions more recently, the heated debates and exchange of ideas. When Julian argued his eyes got bright and his face flushed. He looked pretty when he blushed, there was something sweet about it. He had blushed a good deal the last time they spoke, had maybe even flirted.

Garak shook his head and took a long drink of tea, trying to get rid of the thoughts. It was no good for a man his age to be entertaining such ideas about such a young man. True Julian was attractive in a lithesome sort of way, doe eyed and almost pretty if weren’t for that awful uniform he had to wear. Garak chided himself, Julian was a handsome and smart young man with a bright future and a good deal of friends. He was lucky to be friends with Julian, there was no need to ruin it with thoughts of something more. 

He settled himself into the sofa, wrapping a soft blanket around himself and began reading. The story, he admitted to himself, was really not bad. A bit fanciful certainly, but still enjoyable. Odysseus was, as Julian had predicted, a very enjoyable character. Much more so than Achilles. However, there was something about Achilles that caught his attention, his relationship with the young Patroclus. At one point he put down the reading device and went to investigate the matter a bit further on his computer. What he found was a bit shocking. He’d had no idea that homosexual relationships between older and younger men were so common in Greek and Roman society. 

Garak glanced at the e reader, wondering if Julian had meant for him to learn this about the characters. Julian had been the one to draw his attention to Achilles. But Achilles was a major character, and his homosexual deviancy was not something Homer had written about in much detail. Indeed some scholars claimed there was no sexual element to their relationship at all. Garak decided to think about it over a glass of kanar. He ended up drinking more than a few glasses, and reading a good bit more of the book. When he finally put the ereader down he was as confused about the nature of the relationship between the characters as he was about the relationship between himself and Julian.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julian learns about love from my fave TOS couple!

Working at the hospital was an experience. It wasn’t always a good one, but Julian valued it anyway. The practical skills he learned there were invaluable to him. He learned a great deal fo things, many of them not something he could look up in a book. 

His favorite thing about working at the hospital was the time he got to spend with the people who worked there. He was only in the hospital twice a week to help out and learn practical skills, but he considered it the highlight of his education. 

Every day he came in the head Nurse Christine Chapel was waiting for him with a smile, a cup of coffee, and a pile of paperwork almost as tall as he was. He would spend the morning helping with charts and forms and then a bit before lunch he would be sent off to the doctors McCoy and Spock. The two men had taken an immediate shine to him, although in Dr.Spock’s case it had taken a bit longer to figure that out, and they usually asked him to help him with various projects.   
Dr.McCoy was the chief of Surgery and specialized in trauma care. He constantly amazed Julian with his ability to keep calm and come up with a course f treatment even in the most stressful situations. Dr. Spock worked in internal medicine and mostly did research, having very little to do with patients. He had a massive lab in the hospital where he worked on things from immunization development to working alongside Dr. McCoy to develop a program at the hospital for 3D printing organic tissues and organs. Julian could barely wrap his head around some of it, but it never failed to excited him to see what they were working on. He deeply enjoyed working with both men, although he was also very confused by their relationship with one another.

Dr.McCoy was a good man and a great doctor, but when it came to Dr.Spock the Georgian seemed to lose all of his good sense. The taller man was able to reduce him to shouting and cursing with nothing more than a single raised brow most of the time. The doctors argued over every little thing from the hospital food to choices in medicine. Julian could hardly remember a time he had seen the two of them together where they didn’t argue or disagree at some point. They were also very happily married. 

Julian had been a bit shocked when he found out. Neither one wore a wedding band (he later found out they both kept them on chains during work hours because they made the constant hand washing a hassle) and they had both kept their last names. He actually hadn’t found out until he asked Nurse Chapel about them one day.

“Is it normal for them to...carry on like this?” He asked, gesturing to the doctors. 

They were standing in front of the coffee maker in the break room. Dr. Spock had pointed out that Dr. McCoy had already had three cups of coffee that day, and that he should consider switching to tea. Dr. McCoy had said he had no interest in drinking hot leaf juice, and then added that Dr. Spock should mind his own business. It had quickly devolved into a shouting match, with Dr. McCoy doing all the shouting and waving his coffee cup in the air while Dr. Spock calmly told him he was being an ass.

Nurse Chapel had waved it off as normal behavior. “You have to understand honey, they’re both very smart men. Both great doctors. But they’re also both huge pains in the ass. The fact is, this is how they flirt.” 

Julian had been a bit shocked. “Flirt?”

“Yep, and if you think this is bad you should have seen them before they got married.”

So when Julian showed up to work with his head so full of Garak he could barely concentrate on his paperwork, it was Dr. McCoy and Dr. Spock he turned to. 

He found the two of them in the break room, sitting in companionable silence. Dr.McCoy was reading a medical journal and drinking coffee and Dr. Spock was taking his afternoon tea and finishing some paperwork. Julian almost felt bad interrupting them, but not bad enough not to ask.

“How did you two realize that you liked eachother, I mean, what with all the arguing?”

McCoy nearly choked on his coffee. “What kind of goddamned question is that?”

Julian shrugged. “Nurse Chapel said you two used to fight like cats and dogs, and then one day you showed up at work saying you were going to get married.” 

“Nurse Chapel said what?” McCoy growled, face going a bit red. “I am going to put her on night shift for a month.”

“Punishing Nurse Chapel for stating the truth would be very illogical,” SPock commented over the rim of his teacup. He had been keeping his eyes on his paperwork this whole time.

“We did not fight like cats and dogs!” McCoy countered, face screwed up in a frown.

Spock nodded at that. “True. I have never seen a cat and a dog engage in verbal sparring before.”

Julian interrupted before the conversation could get too far off the rails. “But how did you know when the arguing was...more than arguing?”  
To his surprise it was Spock that answered first.

“I became aware of Dr. McCoy’s...flirting...as you would say, when I realized his insults lacked any true malice. In fact, most of his tirades seemed to be designed to gain a reaction from me and not to truly insult me or hurt me in any way. Then I realized he was fighting with me because it was an excuse to spend time talking to me.”

McCoy elbowed the taller man. “You are making me sound like some kid with a crush, pulling a little girl’s pigtails on the damned playground.”

Spock nodded. “You did exhibit some rather childish behaviors when beginning to court me Leonard.”

“I was childish?” McCoy scrubbed his face with his palms. “You were a robot! I couldn’t get any real emotion out of you any other way.”

Spock’s eyebrows threatened to disappear into his hairline. “And mocking me until I fought with you was the best solution?”

Julian snuck away as the two began arguing, half afraid it might escalate into something else right there on the break room couch. Nurse Chapel was at the nurses station, and she at least was a sane sort of person he could ask for advice.

“How do you know if you like someone?” She tilted her head for a moment, thinking. “I think you know you care for someone when you find yourself wanting their company above that of others. You can just feel it.” She smiled and leaned in to him to whisper conspiratorially in his ear. “Usually, if you have to ask, you already know.”

That did it for Julian. That night when he headed home from the hospital, there was a wide grin plastered on his face. He knew he looked silly but he couldn’t help it. He had a crush, and for once, it didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world. Garak was very, very different from the pretty girls and boys he had mooned after when he was younger. For once, he felt like there might atually be some hope for the situation.

That happy feeling lasted until he got to the building and let himself inside. Miles was in the lobby, sorting through his mail and waiting for the elevator. He had his toolbox at his feet and there was an oil stain on his shirt.

“Hey Julian, what’s got you in such a good mood.?” 

Julian shrugged, not sure if he wanted to say anything about it. “Oh, nothing, just a good day at work.”

Miles grinned. “Good day at work huh? Don’t think you can trick me, I know that look.” He poked Julian with a folded up envelope. “You have a crush on someone.”

“I do not!” Julian flushed, more than a little embarrassed he was so transparent. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, sure. Who is she, some pretty nurse from the hospital?” Miles asked. “Maybe one of the waitresses at the pizzeria?”

“No, it’s not.” Julian thanked whatever gods might be watching when the elevator doors opened. “It’s neither,” he said as he hurried in.

The gods were obviously against him though, because Miles followed him in. 

“Well whoever it is, I’m happy for you. You know, I was getting a bit worried about you.”

“Worried?” Julian was a bit confused. There wasn’t any reason anyone should be worrying about him.

Well yeah,” Miles responded. “I know you’re new and don’t have a lot of time to make friends. Hell, why else would you want to spend time playing videogames with an old man like me?” He laughed.

Julian frowned. “I like playing games with you Miles.”

“Well that’s good because I just got the new Battlestorm Mage Fight game.” Miles drew a padded envelope from under his arm, waving it under Julian’s nose. “But really, it is a good idea for you to spend some time with someone your own age. You send too much time around old men. Speaking of which, I heard that tailor has taken a bit of shine to you.”

Julian and and the OBrien family lived on the same floor, so when he walks out of the elevator, Miles is right on his heels. 

“You mean Garak?”

Miles’ smile faded. “Yeah, Garak.” The name sounded off coming from his mouth and he made a face like he had tasted something sour. 

“I like Garak.” Julian turned so he could look Miles right in the eye. “He’s a nice person.”

Miles regarded him carefully. “I’m not so sure about that Julian.” He sighed and the tension drained from his face. “Just be careful with him, alright? You might think he’s a nice person, but there’s something off about that guy. Not the least of it is him being Cardassian.” he gave a weak smile and unlocked his door, giving the younger man a small nod goodbye as he let himself in.

Julian nodded back and turned on his heel, heading to his own door. When he got inside he kicked off his shoes and collapsed on his bed, his good mood very much gone. He knew that Miles had been involved in the Cardassian war. Miles had told him when they first met that he had been a part of the Army Engineer Corps. It wasn’t something they discussed much, but Keiko, Miles’ wife, had told him about it over dinner.

He had been asked over for dinner, his first home cooked meal since he had moved away from home. The food had been good and being in a real home with a real family for an evening had been even better. When Miles excused himself to tuck his daughter Molly into bed, keiko had taken the chance to thank Julian for being such a good friend for Miles.

“It’s nice seeing him so happy again.” She had said, pouring him a cup of steaming orange spice tea. “He might not seem like it, but he has a hard time sometimes, being back. He had a hard time over there too.”

“You mean during the war?” 

Keiko had nodded sadly. “He saw some tough things. He was an engineer, but there was fighting everywhere. He doesn’t like talking about what happened, but I know that it was bad. He came back thinner, form living off field rations, and he barely spoke for the first few weeks. Now he’s better, but he still prefers machines to people, he spends every moment working.”

Julian had reached across the table and patted her gently on the hand. “Miles is a very good friend.”

When Miles came back they were drinking tea and chatting about school and the work he was doing. Keiko was a botanist and sometimes taught at the college, and had been curious about Julian’s other instructors. It had been a pleasant evening.

Now Julian didn’t know what to make of things with Miles. He had known about the other man’s feelings about Cardassians, but for some reason he hadn’t made the connection between that and Garak. It was hard to imagine Garak on a battlefield, but it was almost as hard to imagine Miles there.

He rolled over to to look at his teddy bear. 

“You don’t think I should stop talking to Garak just because he’s a Cardassian, do you?”

Kukalaka was, as usual, rather quiet on the matter. 

“I mean, it’s not like every Cardassian is some sort of war criminal.”

Kukalaka silently agreed.

“And it’s not like I plan on telling Miles every detail of my love life.”

Kukalaka looked at him in surprise.

“Well, it’s not much of a love life yet. but maybe that’s about to change.”


	7. Chapter 7

Julian spent the next week making himself look like an idiot. He offered to take extra shifts at the pizzeria in hopes of seeing Garak a bit more, and ran himself ragged trying to keep up with his schoolwork in the process. His free time he spent trying to figure out how to seduce the older man, he started daydreaming during the day and staying up late at night thinking about it. He didn't think of much else until he dropped a tray of sample cups at the hospital and burned a pizza at work. 

He made no real progress with Garak. His realization of his crush seemed to be wreaking havoc with his brain. Where before he could carry on an intelligent conversation, now it’s all he can do not to stumble over his own words. He can’t hold eye contact without blushing. 

Jadzia was the one to pull him aside. 

“Julian. You are my friend and my colleague so it is my duty to tell you this: You. Are. Being. A. Spaz.” She held him by the sleeves of his tacky uniform shirt and stared deep into his eyes like she was hoping she could force her words into his brain through sheer will power.

“A spaz?” He snorted and glared at her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jadzia raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Really, Julian?” She shook her head. “I think you know exactly what I mean. Julian, I know why you’ve been so...distracted lately. I think pretty much everyone does.”

Julian stiffened. “You do?” He knew that he had been acting a little off, but he had no idea it had been so obvious. He briefly wondered if Garak was aware. Maybe he was, maybe he was in his shop, laughing at Julian at that very moment.

“Yes, we do,” Jadzia replied. “Well, everyone except for Garak.” 

Julian let out a small sigh of relief. 

Jadzia continued. “You know, I know we aren’t that close, Julian. But I like you, and I hope that if you’re having a hard time, with anything, you would consider talking to me about it.”

Julian nodded mutely, unsure of how to respond. “It’s just...I don’t know how to deal with, with, with…”

“With Garak?” Jadzia supplied helpfully. “You need some relationship advice?”

Julian nodded again and let himself be led into the back room. Worf was the only one in the breakroom. He was wearing his headphones, as usual, and nursing a very large glass of what Julian would have guessed was prune juice. He barely looked up as Jadzia sat Julian down at the table and fixed them both some raktajino. 

“So Julian, tell me all about it.” 

Julian took a deep breath and began. He told her about Garak’s amazing love of books, his excitement when he came to talk to him, the strange feeling he got when he thought about Garak. He even told her about his talks with the doctors at the hospital. 

Jadzia, for her part, was an amazing listener. She was attentive, nodding her head at the right moments, smiling encouragingly when he needed it to keep going. Julian had never noticed how nice she was before, not that she had spent much time talking to him. At the end she took a long drink from her mug, swallowing the last of her Klingon coffee.

“Well, Julian. I think you just need to take some time and think about things. Garak is a very...interesting man. I think some amount of subtlety is called for—” She didn’t have a chance to finish her thought.

“That seems to be a foolish plan of action.” Worf interrupted, making Julian and Jadzia jump in unison. Neither had seen him take off his headphones, but he had apparently been sitting there and listening to Julian for quite a while. 

“You think so?” Jadzia tilted her head towards him. “I didn’t know you were such an expert in romantic relationships.

Worf furrowed his brow. “I am not. But a bold course of action is most often the right one. If Julian...desires...the...company…” He paused, clearly struggling with how to word this part before deciding to power through. “If you want to be with Mr. Garak, then you should be direct with your intentions. You should not feel shame for your...affection.”

Jadzia smiled. “I’m impressed Worf.”

Worf frowned, his mouth turning down just a hair more than normal. “Why would you be impressed? Klingons are not ashamed of love or romance. Indeed, Klingon rituals of love are something we discuss rather openly.”

Julian couldn’t resist the urge to ask more. “What exactly are Klingon courting habits like?” he wondered aloud.

Jadzia smiled widely. “I would like to know too, Worf.”

To his credit, Worf didn’t blush. But he did avoid meeting their eyes. “Klingon courtship is a very complicated matter. The first thing the man does is announce his intentions. Usually by presenting the female with a gift of some sort. Then, he engages her in conversation. This is followed by the female throwing furniture at the male while he recites love poems.” His frown lessened, and a dreamy look came over his face.

Julian paled a bit. “I don’t think that sort of advice is going to help me out with this.”

Jadzia raised a finger. “I don’t know Julian, some of that advice might just work.” She spared a glance at Worf. “I don’t know about the poetry and tossing furniture around, but being a bit bold might work with Garak. Cardassians are so good at subterfuge, directness might be a pleasant change. And who doesn’t like getting gifts?” She spared a quick glance at the clock and stood up. “Unfortunately, there’s work to do so we can’t really spend any more time on Julian’s love life.”

Worf nodded and stood up. “Indeed. I can only hope my advice will prove useful.” He clapped Julian on the back so hard the younger man’s bones rattled. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Garak looked out his shop window and sighed. It was raining again. He hated the rain, and here it rained year round. It was the sort of thing that made him miss Cardassia and it’s dry heat and clear skies. He hadn’t been home in years, and normally he managed to keep his painful longing for home to a dull throb, but it was hard to keep his mind off of it with the miserable weather outside. 

He looked up at the clock and frowned. it was almost time for his usual lunch date with Julian. Not that it was much of a date, but it didn’t hurt an old man to amuse himself with flights of fancy now and then. He wondered idly if Julian would wish to cancel their lunch meeting. He had noticed the boy walking by his shop a good deal more than usual, always hurrying off to work or a class or a shift at the hospital. He knew Julian was busy, but it upset him to think that he would be losing his lunch companion. 

He slipped on his coat and pocketed his wallet. He went to grab his cell phone from his workbench and turned it on. The time and weather flashed on the front, and when he punched in the number to unlock it, the homescreen gave the time and temperature in Cardassia. It was early morning there, and already hot. He sighed and shoved the device in his pocket, wondering why he bothered. He wondered idly if it might be seen as inappropriate to give his number to Julian.

The walk from his shop to the Pizzeria took less than three minutes, and he was practically soaked by the end of it. When he got inside he wasn’t too surprised to see the place was nearly empty. The bad weather was keeping customers away, another reason to dislike it. 

Julian wasn’t at the counter, so Garak put in an order for a slice of veggie pizza with the pretty Trill girl at the counter. She smiled at him and let him know Julian would be out for his break in a minute or two. She was, he reflected, a good bit nicer than the scowling Bajoran who often worked the register. 

He hung his coat on the back of his chair before sitting down, and tried not to frown at how damp he still felt. He pulled a hand through his hair, trying to keep it neat and out of his face despite the fact it was dripping wet. Another reason to hate the rain, it made it impossible to keep oneself neat. 

He had hardly had a chance to sit down before Julian came out of the back room. The young man had removed his normal work uniform shirt and instead was in just his his jeans and a thin cotton tank top, the bright white of which only made his skin look an even warmer shade of brown. He was holding a small package under his arm, which he set on the table when he sat down.

“Sorry about that, I had a bit of an incident in the kitchen.” Julian smiled sheepishly. 

Garak returned the smile. “I trust everything is alright?”

Julian shrugged. “Yeah, everything but my shirt. I upset a sauce pot and it turns out that red sauce makes a mess, even on a red shirt.”

“I can’t say that it is too great a loss. That uniform is certainly...less than flattering.” Garak quickly shifted his attention away from Julian and his tank top before he said something inappropriate. “So, how did you like the book I lent you? After your last selection, I thought a bit more historical fiction might be in order.”

“I loved it! The battles were amazing, it felt like I was really there in the plane during some parts. It was amazing.” Julian sat up, clearly excited. “I actually wanted to talk to you about it. Did you know they made a movie adaptation of it a few years ago?”

Garak shook his head. “No, I wasn’t aware.”

Julian grinned widely. “Well they did, and I was so excited when I found out that I ordered the DvD. It actually got here today.” He held up the package, revealing that it was a shipping envelope from an internet retailer. He slid out the DvD and showed Garak the cover. 

Garak reached out and took the slim plastic case. The film title, which translated to “WIngs of Glory” was emblazoned on the cover in both Federation Standard and the original Romulan. Flipping over the case he could see that the movie inside was in fact in Romulan, which was likely why he had not heard of it being made. While Garak appreciated Romulan literature a good deal, he was not current on their cinema. 

“I’m surprised they bothered to make an adaptation. the book is rather old and I don’t believe it ever sold all that well.” Garak handed the movie back.

“I didn’t know anything about it until I did a bit of searching online and then it turned up in a search suggestion.” Julian placed the movie on the table between them. “I was thinking it would be nice to see how it differs from the novel. The book is so long and the movie is a bit under three hours, they must have made some rather major edits to fit in all the story.” He pulled a napkin from the dispenser on the table and twisted it in his fingers. “Really they should have made a miniseries or something. But I guess it’s like you said, it wasn’t that popular of a book to begin with…” He trailed off as he realized he was rambling.

Garak nodded slowly. “I suppose you’re right. The book rather long. I suspect they cut out most of the prologue, but that would make some of the story rather confusing. You will have to tell me what it’s like after you watch it.”

Julian began to tear the napkin into long strips. “Actually, I was thinking you could maybe watch it...with me.” He looked up at Garak through his lashes, a blush spreading across his face. “I mean, if you don’t mind. i just thought it would be nice. I know I would want to talk about the movie with you and maybe it would nice to talk outside the pizza shop.” 

Garak hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond. “You want to watch the movie together?”

Julian nodded emphatically. “I think it might be fun.” He took a deep breath and stood up. “My break is pretty much over, but please think about it.” He fished in his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. “Here’s my cell phone number. Just, text me. I have off tomorrow, and I know your shop is normally closed Sundays.” He turned on his heel and walked off quickly before the other man could respond.

Garak looked down at the piece of paper. Julian had written his name in blue felt tipped marker and drawn a small smiley face next to it. When he looked up towards the counter, he caught the Trill girl staring at him. He carefully folded the paper, put it in his pocket, and nodded to her as he left. It was still raining outside, but he found he didn’t mind so much.


	8. Chapter 8

Julian woke up Sunday morning at six am. The first thing he did was roll over and check his phone. There was nothing there. He had turned the volume up as high as it could before going to bed, and woken up several times in the middle of the night thinking he had heard it buzz at him. He had been wrong every time. 

Sighing, he rolled out of bed, wrapping his blankets around his shoulders and taking them with him as he walked to the kitchen. He spared a moment to glance at Kukalaka. 

“I should have known better than to listen to dating advice from Worf of all people.”

Kukalaka gave him a sympathetic look as he headed into the kitchen. He fussed in the pantry for a moment, grabbing the bag of special roast coffee beans and then pouring a good amount of them into the grinder. When he first moved in he had used pre ground coffee made in a drip machine that he had bought at a garage sale. Working at the pizzeria had changed his feelings about coffee. Deep Dish Nine served coffee, like almost all restaurants, but they also served raktajino, which was a stronger Klingon version of the drink. Everyone in the place drank at least two cups of the stuff a day, except Worf who for some reason hated the stuff. Kira usually drank three or four enormous mugs of it, sometimes five or six if it was a particularly bad day. It had become impossible for Julian to wake up with normal coffee because of it. 

He brought his coffee back to bed with him. It was still early enough for him to just go back to sleep, but the raktajino was already waking him up. He crawled into bed and cradled his coffee cup like a baby. He drank about half of it before his phone buzzed at him so loudly he nearly choked.

He opened his phone and saw he had received a text from an unknown number. 

What time should I come over?

Julian grinned as his finger flew across the keyboard. 

Come over at seven. Apartment 631

I will see you then.

Julian grinned and hit the lock button on the side of his phone. Garak was coming over. He resisted the urge to hug his phone to his chest. Garak was coming over. He couldn’t remember the last time he had anyone over other than Miles.

He stopped suddenly and looked around the studio, his grin fading a bit. Julian was not, by any standards, a messy person. He kept his apartment relatively clean, it was in his nature as a medical student to want to avoid dirt and grime. But he was also a student living alone for the first time, which meant his home was a bit less than...homey. He never made his bed, there was a pile of sneakers by the door, and he knew of he looked in the bathroom there would be a damp towel on the floor somewhere.

Most of the furnishings were things he had gotten from garage sales and online ads, most of it cheap or free. He hadn’t planned on entertaining much, so he hadn’t bothered to do much the space. Now, when he looked around, he saw just how bad the place really looked. The couch was a huge, red, slightly threadbare monstrosity he had had Miles help him carry up the stairs the week he moved in. The television was large and fairly new, but it was balanced on a stack of colorful plastic milk crates which were filled with DvDs, videogames and electronic equipment. It had suited Julian's needs well enough but it seemed a bit tacky.

Julian shook his head and tossed back the rest of his coffee, grimacing slightly. He glanced over at Kukalaka. 

“I think I have some work to do.”

Kukalaka gave him a hard look.

“Ok, I have a lot of work to do.”

Julian rolled out of bed and stood up, stretching his thin arms over his head. He spent the next two hours cleaning up, putting the dirty laundry away and making the bed. The biggest downside of having a studio was that everything was out in the open. He dusted the bookshelves, at least those he had gotten new, and then debated what to do with Kukalaka. He held the bear in his arms and looked around. He could put him on the shelf in his closet, but he was reluctant to put him in there. Instead he tucked the bear up on the bookshelf, propping him up between an anatomy textbook and a series of spy paperbacks. 

Next thing to deal with was food. After a thorough inventory Julian realized his kitchen contained two bottles of sweetwine, a box of frozen veggie burgers from a Vulcan grocery store near the hospital, and a few snack sized bags of curry flavored potato chips. There was a decent grocery store a few blocks from the building, so Julian tossed on his clothes and grabbed a reusable shopping bag (a gift from Keiko), and headed out. 

Outside, the sun was shining and the street was crowded with people. Deep Dish Nine wasn’t open yet but there was a distinct smell of food cooking coming from the building. Outside of Quark’s, Rom, the bartender’s brother, was sorting bottles for recycling with his son Nog. Rom and his son look a lot alike, almost as much as Rom looks like his brother, short, with short hair (balding in Rom and Quark’s case), and large ears that stick outform their heads. They looked up when Julian approached, and Nog waved him over so Julian stopped to say hello.

“I get to keep half of the money from the bottle recycling,” said Nog proudly, holding up a huge clear garbage bag of plastic bottles.

Rom nodded and started filling another bag with glass bottles. “Quark’s supposed to tget the other half, but I usually only give him thirty five percent.” He grinned, showing crooked teeth. “He doesn’t have any idea how much the bottle are worth.”

Julian laughed. He had only been to Quark’s once or twice, it was difficult to afford drinks on a student budget, but Quark had a reputation for being greedy. 

“You know Nog, the pizza place has a lot of recycling too, mostly beer and soda bottles. But we just put them out in the bins.” He gestured towards the back of the building where the dumpsters were. “You could probably ask Mr. Sisko, and he would let you take our bottles and recycle them too. You would get a lot more money that way.”

Nog’s eyes went wide. “If I get Jake to help me carry them all we can afford the new videogame we wanted.” He glanced at his father.

Rom shrugged. “Oh, go ahead Nog, just don’t tell your uncle or he’s going to want a cut too.”

He smiled at Julian thankfully as the boy ran off, obviously heading to get Jake, and Julian nodded and smiled back as he continued on his quest. The grocery store wasn’t too far, and despite the sizeable crowd, doing the shopping proved to be easy enough. 

He filled his bag with popcorn, some fruit and a case of fancy root beer and set off for home with a smile on his face. It faded a bit as he came up the block and saw the group of people standing in front of the pizzeria. Miles and Kira are leaning against the brick wall, chatting and drinking what is probably raktajino out of large paper cups, and Worf is standing nearby, still wearing his apron. 

Julian put his head down and tried to hurry, but it was no use. Miles shouted and waved Julian over as soon as he caught sight of him. Kira and Worf nodded to him as he approached.

“Hey! What’re you doing up and about so early Julian?” Miles looked down at the bag. “Getting some groceries?”

“Uh yeah, just needed to pick up a few things.” Julian shifted the bag from one hand to the other, trying not to look as awkward as he felt.

“Well if you’re done with your errands for the day maybe we can play videogames later?” asked Miles.

Kira interrupted before Julian could respond. “After Miles finishes fixing the sink in the men’s restroom.”

Miles rolled his eyes. “Of course of course, can’t forget that.” He turned his attention back to Julian. “Anyways, you free later?”

Julian shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t, I have...a thing. I have plans, later.” He struggled for words, not wanting to tell Miles just what those plans were or who was involved. it seemed easier to just not tell Miles Garak was coming over.

Worf looked up suddenly, eyes narrowed. ‘I see. So my advice worked Julian?”

Julian blushed and shook his head more vigorously.

“Advice?” Kira glanced between the two men, eyebrows raised. “Advice about what?”   
Worf answered before Julian could stop him. “I gave Julian romantic advice.”

Miles and Kira choked on their coffee simultaneously, both doubling over in coughing fits. 

“You,” Kira looked at Worf. “Gave Julian romantic advice.” She eyed Julian. “Really??”

Worf nodded gravely. “Julian was informing Jadzia of his romantic problems with Mr. Garak and I advised him to make a bold move. It is the Klingon way.”

Miles looked like he was about have a heart attack. Julian wondered how long it would take for an ambulance to show up if he needed to call.

“You’re going on a date with Garak?” Miles’ fae had gone from red to a sickly white. “A date, with Garak,” he repeated numbly.

“It’s not exactly a date,” Julian protested weakly. 

“Well then what is it?” Kira snapped. 

“He’s….” Julian’s voice dropped to a mumble. “He’s coming over tonight to watch a movie.”

Kira dropped her cup, the raktajino splashing on the sidewalk. “What?”

Miles frowned and put a hand on julian’s shoulder. “Julian, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean, inviting Garak over, that’s gonna lead to trouble.”

Worf raised a bushy eyebrow. “You think Mr. Garak would wish to harm Julian in some way?”

Miles snorted. “I think Mr. Garak is bad news.” He turned his gaze on Julian. “And I think Julian needs to be more careful.”

Julian pulled away, affronted. “I’m plenty careful! I just invited a… friend… over to watch a movie, what’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong is that you are letting some Cardassian creep into your home where he can do who knows what to you!” Kira was shouting at full volume by then, and waving her arms in the air. 

None of them noticed when the door of the pizzeria opened. 

“It’s bad enough you’re talking to garak at work all the time Julian, but letting him into your apartment, when you’re alone? That’s a bad idea, and you should know better!” Miles’ gestured with his cup, coffee spilling over the side.

“WHAT IS GOING ON OUT HERE?” Sisko’s voice boomed in the early morning air like cannon fire. 

Everyone went still and silent. 

Sisko looked at them, noting the spilled coffee on the ground. “I would like to know what is going on outside my restaurant.”

Worf cleared his throat. “Julian is planning on entertaining Mr. Garak in his home tonight, and Mr. O’Brien and Ms. Kira are quite upset.”

Sisko arched an eyebrow, turning his eyes on Julian. “Julian?”

Julian sighed, shoulders slumping. “Yes sir. I invited Garak over to watch a movie tonight since we both have the evening off.”

Sisko nodded quietly, clearly thinking. “So...what movie?”

Julian blinked in surprise. “Uh, it’s Wing of Glory.”

Sisko nodded and smiled. “I saw that one in theaters. Good choice. I hope you have a pleasant evening.”

Julian grinned widely and nodded his thanks before hurrying off.

Sisko turned his attention to the three remaining people.

“You’re just going to let him go?” Kira demanded.

Sisko sighed. “Julian is an adult, Kira. If he wants to spend time outside of work with Mr. Garak then that is his choice. I’m not letting him do anything.”

“But Mr. Sisko, you must know Garak is bad news. Even putting aside he’s a shifty Cardie bastard, he’s got at least ten years on Julian. He’s got no business hanging around a kid like that.” Miles wrinkled his nose. “Someone needs to say something.

Sisko shook his head. “No, Miles, I don’t think they do.” He shot a hard look at Kira. “Now, I understand you both disapprove of Mr. garak’s involvement with Julian. And I understand why that is. But you both need to get your emotions under control.” He turned on his heel and headed back for the restaurant. “I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

Miles and Kira nodded penitently, keeping their mouths shut and eyes on the ground. Worf gave them a small nod as he followed behind Sisko, heading back into the restaurant. 

“So, you’re the one who gave Julian the push to finally ask Garak out?” Sisko asked.

Worf paused for a moment before nodding his head in affirmation. “I did.”

“Good job.”


	9. Chapter 9

Garak looked in the mirror and sighed. He had changed five times and still wasn’t sure about his results. At work he normally dressed in a dress shirt, slacks and occasionally a vest. In cooler weather he would wear a blazer. He liked looking professional, and it was important for his business. Now, he wasn’t so sure about his wardrobe. 

He had swapped his vest and jacket for a soft blue cashmere cardigan, and his black work pants for dark grey slacks. He still looked overly formal. He reached up and tried undoing the top button of his collar. It helped a bit. He undid another one and frowned. When he moved his head to the side, there was a flash of grey at his neck. He tugged his shirt into place, covering it up again, and redid that button. It would have to be good enough.

He looked down at his watch and frowned. He had a few minutes before he had to walk down to Julian’s apartment. He wondered idly if it would be better to just call and cancel. He would need to adjust his schedule so he didn’t see Julian on his way to work, and he wouldn’t be able to eat at the pizza place any more. Not that he had gone there much before he started seeing Julian. 

“It is very unseemly to runaway from a date,” He informed his reflection.

“You don’t even know that it IS a date,” he snapped back. 

That was true. He wasn’t sure if it was a date or not. Surely he had found Julian attractive, and had enjoyed looking at him over their lunch time chats, but he hadn’t ever really considered that Julian might be thinking the same things about him. And now he was going to Julian’s apartment. Alone, at night, with Julian. 

“You are being a foolish old man,” his reflection informed him.

Garak was inclined to agree. “Maybe I’m wrong about the whole thing,” he mused. “Maybe this is some ploy to get me alone so he can kill me.”

His reflection seemed to think about it for a moment. “That would make sense. Well, I guess you have to go and find out either way. At least if it’s an assassination attempt you know how to handle it.”

He nodded and pulled a hand through his hair, smoothing it back neatly. It was probably a bad sign that he was more comfortable with the idea of someone trying to attack him than the idea of a date or anything like it. He took a moment to be thankful that no one he had known is Cardassia was able to witness him now, gone soft in his old age and exile. 

It was a short walk down to the sixth floor, and when he got to Julian’s door, he could hear music playing inside. He hesitated for a moment before knocking, unsure if it would be better to text or call to let julian know he was ready. When Julian answered the door, he realized he should have called first. 

Julian opened the door and smiled, and Garak had to fight to keep his face neutral. Julian was standing in the doorway in a threadbare tank top that fit close to his thin frame and loose light wash jeans that hung low on his hips, showing a thin strip of stomach under the tank top. His hair was damp and his feet were bare and Garak had to work to keep his eyes trained on Julian’s face.

“Oh, hey! Sorry, I was just getting dressed. I had some errands to run and kinda lost track of time.” Julian stepped back and waved him inside. “Let me just grab a sweatshirt, come on in.”

Garak took a tentative step inside and looked around. The apartment was about what he expected of a college student, but it was neat and clean which was nice. He let himself have a look around while Julian went and grabbed a sweater from the closet. There were a number of bookshelves along one wall, full of novels and textbooks. One item in particular caught his attention.

“Who is this?” Garak gently poked the stuffed bear that was perched on the shelf. 

Julian rushed over, blushing furiously. “Uh! That’s...Kukalaka.”

“Kukalaka?”

Julian nodded and reached up to rearrange the bear, making sure he was secure on the shelf. “Yeah. Kukalaka was my best friend when I was little. He’s the reason i wanted to become a doctor actually.”

“Really?” Garak turned to Julian and raised an eyebrow. “This teddy bear is the reason you’re in med school?”

“Yeah. Kukalaka was given to me when I was very little, I carried him with me everywhere. Eventually he started to get a bit worn out. One day, a seam gave out and a bunch of stuffing spilled out.” Julian pointed to a ragged line of stitches on the bear. “I was devastated. my mother was going to get rid of him, but I made such a fuss she gave me her sewing kit, and that’s how I performed my very first surgery.” Julian shrugged, clearly a bit embarrassed. “I think I restuffed, sewed and patched every inch of him at some point or other.”

Garak took another look at the bear. It was covered in a thin criss cross of stitches. Some of them were large and crooked, in jet black thread and soft brown. Some of the stitches were small and neat though, obviously done with great care and precision. He turned and flashed Julian a bright smile. 

“Well it certainly seems like the practice did you some good. As a tailor, it is my professional opinion that you did a fairly good job. I imagine you will make a fine doctor.”

Julian smiled back sheepishly and then gestured towards the couch. “Well, enough time spent chattering about something so silly. Here, come sit. I can get us some snacks and put the movie on.”

Garak settled himself on to the couch, it was old but surprisingly comfortable. “There’s no need to make a fuss over me Julian.”

Julian shook his head and hurried into the kitchen. “No, but I got some things anyway.”  
He came back with arms full of snacks and a bottle of the sweet wine, two mismatched wine glasses in one hand. “I hope you like sweet wine, it’s that or root beer to drink. You don’t like soda do you?”

Garak shook his head. “No, not particularly. I didn’t know you drank though.” He carefully avoided asking if Julian was even old enough to drink. He had never asked Julian exactly how old he was, and he wasn’t certain he really wanted to know.

Julian shrugged. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.” He offered Garak the bottle.

Garak took the bottle and opened it, filing both glasses. “I will have you know, I am very good at keeping secrets.”

Julian laughed and slid over the arm of the couch settling down next to Garak. He leaned across the other man and grabbed the remote, turning on the television and DvD player. The menu popped up on the screen and Julian hit play and then settled back against the couch cushions.

The movie was a long one. An hour and half in and the bottle of wine was down to the dregs and Garak was feeling a pleasant warm buzz in the back of his head. Julian reached across him again to shake the bottle, and he was almost overwhelmed by the way the young man smelled, spicy and slightly sweet like a cinnamon candy.

“Pause the movie, I’m gonna grab the other bottle of wine.” Julian swung his long legs over the arm of the chair, swaying a bit when he stood up. 

When he returned he fell back onto the couch gracelessly, giggling a bit as he struggled with the cork in the bottle. Garak reached across to lend a hand just as he got it free, and an amount spilled out of the bottle and onto Garak’s shirt. 

“Oh, bloody hell. I’m sorry!” Julian put the bottle on the table, nearly spilling it all over again, and scrambled backward over the arm of the couch. “I’m just gonna grab a towel, one sec. Fuck!” 

Garak looked down at the damage. The wine had spilled right down the front of his shirt, and it smelled strongly sweet. He carefully pulled his sweater off, being sure to avoid getting any of the wine on it, and laid it across the back of the couch. When Julian came back with a roll of paper towels he took one and blotted the front of his body, trying to absorb some of the liquid. 

“I’m so sorry! I’m such a spaz.” Julian fretted, handing him more and more paper towels. “It was probably a really nice shirt too. Damn. Hold on for one moment, I have a sweatshirt you can borrow, it should fit you well enough and then you won’t be sticky.” He hurried away, muttering to himself about wine and his own clumsiness.

“I’m just going to go into the restroom and trying and clean off what I can,” Garak told him, heading into the bathroom. It, like the rest of the apartment, was small but very clean. He unbuttoned his shirt and put it in the sink, rinsing it under the spout. White wine was easy enough to clean so long as he didn’t just let it set. 

He was wringing the shirt out when the door flew open and julian barged in, holding up an oversized college sweatshirt. Julian’s eyes went wide as saucers when he caught sight of Garak shirtless, and he he stopped where he was, seemingly frozen.

“I… I’m… I’m sorry. I found a sweatshirt that would… that would fit you…” Julian held out the sweatshirt, seemingly unable to stop staring at the sight before him. 

Garak was shirtless, leaning over the sink. Under the awful fluorescent lights he looked paler than normal, and without his normal perfectly tailored shirt Julian could see that he was built much like any an approaching middle age, broad and muscular but with a noteable softness around the middle. None of that really held Julian’s attention though. What made him freeze in place were the tattoos.

They covered Garak’s arms, chest and stomach, and they seemed to continue down further, disappearing under his pants. His body was a mass of delicate line in black and green and blue, with areas washed into shades of grey all over. At first glance it was hard to tell exactly what he was looking at, but the harder he looked, the more figures and patterns emerged. There were leaves, branches and flowers, twining around and up his ribs, and scales, scales all over. His body looked like it was wrapped in the embrace of some enormous serpent.The body of it wrapped around him, and in the center of his chest the length of it doubled over and over again into an elaborate knot. When he turned away slightly Julian could see the design continued onto his back. the head of the snake between his shoulder blades. The mouth was wide and something that was either venom or blood dripped from it’s teeth.

Garak dropped the shirt back into the sink basin and snatched the sweatshirt from Julian’s hands, quickly pulling it over his head. It was black with a large red star design on the front, the emblem for Julian's school. 

“Thank you,” he said tersely, pulling the sleeves down carefully so that the designs on his arms were fully covered. 

“I’m sorry,” Julian said lamely, still a bit off balance. “I didn’t mean to… I just… I found the sweater and just wanted to give it to you. I should have knocked.”

“You should have, but it’s fine. No harm done.” Garak gestured to the sink. “I hope you don’t mind, I made use of your sink. I didn’t want the stain to set in.”

Julian turned to the side to let Garak out of the restroom. “I uh, I didn’t know you had tattoos.”

Garak shrugged. “It’s not something many people know, I don’t make a habit of showing them off.”

Julian blushed. “I’m sorry, again. But, they looked… nice.”

Garak opened his mouth and then closed it again, hesitating.

Julian took advantage of the situation and rushed forward, grabbing Garak gently by the sleeve. “How about we finish the movie, alright?”

Garak glanced between the couch and the door, debating. “Julian,” he began.

Julian didn’t give him a chance to finish. “Oh, please Garak? If you leave like this I’m going to feel like an idiot all night.” He looked at Garak pleadingly, eyes huge and pleading. “Come on, we can finish the movie.” 

Garak sighed and rolled his eyes upwards as if he were conferring with some deity about his current situation. “Alright,” he relented. “Let’s go finish watching the movie.”

Julian grinned widely and pulled Garak over to the couch by his sleeve as if he were afraid the man might leave if he let him go. He put the movie back on, but Garak found he had a hard time paying much attention to it. Again and again he found himself more aware of julian than anything on the screen. The young man had settled next to him on the couch still holding the sleeve of the sweatshirt, and as he watched he seemed to become more relaxed, melting against the cushions, and against Garak’s arm. By the end of the movie he was flush against the older man’s side, and Garak was hyper aware of the warmth of the other body against him. 

They let credits roll, neither bothering to reach out and grab the remote to stop it. When they finished and the opening menu came onto the screen again, Garak felt obligated to do something. 

“Julian?” He turned his head to look down at him, and was caught off guard by close his face was. 

“Garak.” Julian replied, voice oddly smooth and slow. His breath smelled like sweet wine and his eyes were bright.

Garak put his hand up and placed it on Julian shoulder, at the junction where it met his neck. His hand looked alien to him in that brief moment, emerging from the sleeve of the college sweatshirt. He flexed his fingers, and he could feel Julian’s pulse then, fluttering under skin quick and light like a small bird. 

He told himself he wasn’t expecting it when Julian leaned in and pressed their lips together. If he was surprised, it was ok to hesitate, to be too shocked to move right away. And if Julian took that moment of hesitation and used it to his advantage, swiping his tongue across the older man’s bottom lip, that certainly no fault of his. 

Garak closed his fingers around Julian’s neck, fingers pressing into his throat for a brief moment. He growled low in his throat at the breathy sounds Julian made before he pulled back, eyes glassy and face flushed. Julian licked his lips and leaned in again for another kiss.

Garak pulled away slightly. “I’m sorry Julian.” He slowly released his grip on Julian’s neck. 

“Garak?” Julian opened his eye, brow creasing slightly. “Is something wrong?”

Garak let out a harsh laugh. “Is something wrong? My dear, this is all wrong.” He gestured to the small space between their bodies. “I am too old and too… well Julian I am just not the sort of person you should be doing this with.” He pulled back and started to stand up. “I am sorry I let it get this far. I have enjoyed our lunches together but it seems I have given you the wrong impression.”   
Julian scrambled to his feet, eyes wide. “The wrong impression? You come over drink with me and kiss me and now you think I have the wrong impression? I thought you liked me! What other impression could i have gotten?”

Garak sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I do like you Julian,” he paused, searching for the right words. “But I also know this is a bad idea. You barely know me and if you did you would not want to continue this.”

“You could give me a chance to get to know you.” Julian took a step forward, hand reaching out to the other man.

“That simply is not a good idea.” Garak shook his head and, with one final sign, turned on his heel and left, closing the door quietly behind him. 

Julian stared at the door for a full minute, hands clenched into fists so tight his nails cut into his palms. When the door remained closed he snatched one of the empty bottles of wine from the table and threw it at the door, smiling grimly when it shattered into pieces. He took the remaining bottle of wine, still half full, and then fetched Kukalaka form the shelf, taking them both to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Julian has some angst, and we finally get some time with Odo and Quark! Also, the final chapter is coming up soon, so stay tuned for smut! I decided this would be fun as a series, so if you liked this, there will be more.

He managed to avoid Garak for a week. It wasn’t hard. He left for work a bit later, and went around the back of the building instead of stopping by the tailor’s shop. He started to take his break later in the day, and Garak stopped coming in for lunch. Julian threw himself into studying and his work at the pizza shop. He was upset at how things had turned out, but he convinced himself he would be fine if he just didn’t dwell on it. And part of not dwelling on it was hiding from Garak for the rest of his life until he got over his stupid crush once and for all.

He managed that for about a week, six days to be exact. On the fourth day he worked so late at the hospital that when he came home on the bus, he imagined he could see the sky lightening as the sun came up in the distance. It took all the energy he had to stumble into this apartment, strip off his scrubs and just fall into bed. That night was good, because he was too tired to think about Garak or anything else. On the fifth day, he got drunk. Very, very, very drunk. It wasn’t even hard, with Quark’s right downstairs.

On Friday night he got home from work, changed out of his work clothes that smelled like hospital, and headed right down to the bar. Inside it was dimly it and smelled slightly of stale beer. The tables in the back were all full and there was a dull roar of conversation that was nearly drowned out by the sound coming out of an old jukebox in the back. There were people along the wall lined up playing darts, and in the back there were pretty girls dealing out decks of cards and flirting with the customers. It wasn’t the kind of place Julian normally spent a lot of time, Quark’s bar was a bit of a dive, but it was well stocked and the drinks weren’t watered down too much.

Julian went in and slid neatly onto a bar stool, waving over the proprietor. Further down the bar was one of the regulars, Morn. He looked up from his drink and gave Julian a silent nod before turning his attention back to his beer. 

Julian forced a grin when he saw Quark walking over. As usual, the man was dressed rather extravagantly, as if he thought his own fashion sense could make the bar seem a bit classier. Not, Julian thought to himself, that most people would consider multicolor suits and bright silk shirts and layers of gold chain fashionable or classy.

“Quark, I need something to drink. Something strong, very strong.” He placed a credit card on the bartop and slid it forward. “And I will likely need more than one, so go ahead and open up a tab for me.”

Quark grinned widely, crooked teeth flashing white in the dim lights. “Whatever you say doctor.” he turned and grabbed a few bottles off of a shelf behind him.

“I’m not a doctor yet!” Julian shouted after him.

Quark ignored him and poured a shot of something dark into a glass, adding a few ice cubes and a bit of water and giving it a slight swirl to mix them together. He held it up for a moment and then nodded approvingly to himself. 

“Here ya go, this should do it.” He thumped the glass down in front of Julian with another snaggletoothed smile.

Julian picked up the glass, and without allowing himself to think about it’s contents too much, knocked it back, swallowing the content in one go. He then promptly choked, and he doubled over in a coughing fit, his eyes streaming tears down his face. Whatever it was had tasted like coffee grounds mixed with rubbing alcohol and it burned it’s way down his throat. He screwed up his face and stuck out his tongue, wishing he could get the taste out of his mouth.

He looked up at Quark, eyes watering slightly. “What was that?” He stared down at the cup in horror, as if half expecting it to assault him again in some way.

Quark frowned and snatched the cup back. “Well, you said said strong! That was Klingon whiskey. Or,” he paused. “something sort of like whiskey anyways. I don’t really know what it’s made out of.” He shrugged and grabbed the bottle of the noxious liquid in question. The writing on the label was old and a bit faded, and the script was completely unreadable to Julian, but the bottle did feature a picture of what looked like a dead targ.

Julian was about to tell Quark what he could do with his Klingon sort of whiskey but not really, when a voice from behind him cut in.

“Now Quark, you aren’t trying to poison the boy now are you?” A lean man in a police uniform slid into the seat next to Julian, deep set eyes shadowed under the brim of his cap. 

Quark snorted and turned to fix two new drinks. “Oh sure Odo, everyone’s a critic.” When he turned he was holding a glass of something that looked like soda, and a tall mug of beer. “Here, one beer and one whiskey and soda, with normal Federation whiskey.”

Julian gratefully took the new drink and took an experimental sip, sighing at the much more familiar taste. “Thank you Quark, now I can drink away my problems properly.” He took a much larger drink and set the glass down, now half empty. “I’m going to need a lot more of those.”

Odo and Quark turned to him almost in unison, eyebrows raised.

“You don’t normally come here to drink Julian.” Odo stated flatly. He, like Julian and Quark, lived in the apartments that made up the upper floors of the building. He had spoken to Julian once or twice on the elevator or at the mailbox, and had once come into Deep Dish Nine when Julian was on shift, although at that time he had only spoken to Kira. He was a police officer, and worked at the precinct a few blocks away, so he kept odd hours, but he seemed polite enough if not exactly pleasant.

“No,” Julian admitted. “I don’t normally. But I am having a very bad week.”

“Oh, because of Garak.” Quark nodded knowingly. “I get a lot of customers in here with romance troubles. It’s one thing I love about being a bartender, being there to help people.”

“How do you know about that?” Julian demanded. “I certainly didn’t tell you.”

Quark shrugged. “Jadzia is a terrible gossip at the best of times and she’s worse when she plays cards.”

Julian dropped his head to the bartop and groaned. He should have known better than to think the whole building was not already intimately familiar with his love life. Despite being in a very large city, living and working there was a bit like living in a very small town and being surrounded by nosy (but generally well meaning) neighbors.

“What exactly is going on between Mr. Garak and Julian?” asked Odo, taking a delicate sip of his beer.

“Nothing is going on between me and Garak!” Julian yelled into the bartop. 

Quark leaned across the bar to whisper loudly to Odo. “Yeah, and I heard that’s most of the problem. Jadzia said their date didn’t exactly end well.”

“A date with Mr. Garak? Hmm…” Odo grumbled to himself. “Well that’s probably for the best then, the man is trouble Julian.”

Julian turned his head to the side so he could peek up at the older man. “Trouble? Oh, come now Odo, not you too! I wouldn’t have thought you cared about Garak being Cardassian.”

Odo sniffed indignantly. “Of course I don’t care that Mr. Garak is Cardassian! I care that Mr. Garak is a criminal with a very nasty history from the war.” He took another sip of his drink. At the rate he was currently drinking, he might finish the whole glass before the bar closed.

Quark turned a sharp eye on Julian. “You can’t tell me you haven’t heard the rumors kid.” He glanced around before continuing, as if afraid someone might overhear their conversation over the din the jukebox was making. “Everyone knows Garak was in some kind of special service during the war, something very secret and very nasty.”

Julian sat up and shook his head. “Oh, come on, you must be joking. Garak? The tailor? The one with the books and the cardigans? You’re telling me he was some sort of war criminal?” He took a long sip of his drink. “I have a very hard time believing that.”

Quark shrugged and grabbed his glass, topping it off with a flourish. “Hey, believe what you want, but Odo here doesn’t go around making false accusations.”

Julian turned to Odo. “So, why haven’t you arrested him if he was some of criminal?”

Odo sighed and took another sip of beer. “Because he was very good at what he did, so there’s no real evidence I could use against him, nothing solid enough to hold up in court. But believe me julian, Garak was, and might still be, a member of the Obsidian Order. They were an elite intelligence agency, and during the war they were involved in some very dark business. Many of them were tired for their actions, but a good many more got away and found safety abroad after the war.”

Quark shrugged. “I don’t know any details about the guy, but I believe he was into some bad stuff.” He paused for a moment. “He does do a good job hemming my pants though.”  
After a moment he shrugged and poured himself a drink.

“Oh, great, so in a city full of nice normal people, I fell for the evil spy, is that what you guys are telling me?” Julian groaned and rubbed at his temples. He could feel a headache coming on.

“Pretty much, yes,” Odo answered, hiding his grin behind his beer glass.

Quark leaned across the bar and patted Julian on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t dwell on it too much. Maybe just have another drink instead.” He pushed forward a newly filled glass. “And if you really feel like your love life is a mess, well you can always try one of the Dabo girls.”

Julian looked up and glanced back at the card tables. One of the women, a slim and bubbly little thing in a gold sequinned dress with an abundance of auburn curls, smiled at him prettily and waved. Julian turned back to the bar and grabbed his drink, biting back another groan. 

Julian drank himself under the bar that night. He sat next to Odo, and they drank in silence. When it was time for them to call it a night and go home, Odo grabbed him by the arm and marched him all the way to his door. He waited patiently for Julian to fish his key out of his pocket, his arms crossed over his chest and his normal scowl firmly in place. 

He stopped Julian before he could close the door behind him. “About Garak,” he started.

Julian sighed and slumped against the door frame. “You don’t need to say it, let me guess. You are going to tell me to stay far, far away from him because he is a bad and scary man and a bad and scary Cardassian. Also, he’s clearly much too old for me.” He rolled his eyes dramatically, then stopped because it made him feel like the whole damned building was spinning.

Odo snorted and gave Julian one his rare smiles. “Actually I was just going to tell you he is rather fond of chocolates. It might come in handy some time.” He gave Julian a small nod and turned, walking off down the hall.

Julian stared after him for a moment and then shook his head, scrubbing his face with his hands. He needed to get to bed, he was working the next day. He stumbled into the apartment, stripping off his clothing as he went. He had just enough sense to drink a glass of water and take some aspirin before he crawled into bed. He burrowed down into the blankets and then looked up, noticing Kukalaka sitting on his bedside table. 

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” 

Kukalaka stared at him disapprovingly.

Julian sighed and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head. He didn’t have time to argue with the stuffed bear, he needed sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Work the next day was hell. It turned out work could be ok, but working with a hangover was simply not a good idea. He trudged through the day like a zombie, bleary eyed and cotton mouthed. By the end of the day, he thought he was going to die. He felt awful, physically and mentally, and he still couldn’t stop thinking about Garak.

“Hey, Julian, Garak is here again!” 

Julian stiffened at the sound of Jadzia’s shout and then slumped down in the booth he was sitting in, trying desperately to hide. It would have been a brilliant plan, if he wasn’t just over six feet tall. As it was, he bumped his knees into the table, upsetting a large cup of soda, just as the bell over the door jingled, and the man he had been trying to hide from walked in.

“Oh! My goodness, do you need some help?” Garak was, as usual, impeccably dressed, and smiling that odd smile that made Julian think he was being laughed at. 

Julian looked up, wide eyed, with root beer dripping down his face, and forced a smile. “No, no. Not at all. I’m...fine,” he finished lamely, rubbing at his face with his sleeve. There was a small lake of soda on the table, and his hair and shirt were soaked with root beer, but damned if he wasn’t going to try and handle the situation with some sort of dignity. 

Garak seemed to determined to deprive him of even that small mercy though. “Oh, well I simply can’t leave you there in such a state. You are getting rather sticky.” He leaned across the table and pulled a handful of napkins from the dispenser. His hand hovered over Julian’s face for a moment as if he wasn’t sure what to do, and then he began dapping at the dripping soda. “If we leave you like this you might attract ants.”

Julian felt his face go hot, and he wiggled in the seat, bracing his feet on the floor and quickly pushing himself upright so he could stand up, pulling himself away from Garak’s ministrations. He felt a bit better standing. He was a bit taller than the other man and somehow it was comforting. He glanced down at himself and grimaced. The bright red of his shirt was blotched with dark rootbeer splatters, and he had no doubt it was going to stain. 

Garak eyed him cautiously. “Well it’s not a great loss. These uniforms are rather…” He shrugged, clearly not wanting to say anything else about it.

Jadzia came over with a rag and a bottle of cleaning solution. “Julian, you’re a mess!” She frowned and glanced at Garak. “You’re shift is just about over anyways, you can go home and clean up.”

Julian nodded sullenly and slid past them both towards the door. Once he was outside he realized Garak had followed him out onto the street.

“Is there something you want?” He turned on his heel and glared at the older man. 

Garak stopped, a few feet away from him. “Your sweatshirt,” he began. 

Julian sighed and dropped his head. “I forgot, I lent it to you. I still have your shirt too.” He glanced up. “I washed it.” 

Garak gave him a thin lipped smile. “Thank you. I washed your sweatshirt as well. If you wouldn’t mind coming with me, I have it in the shop actually.” He headed down the sidewalk to the door, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

Julian raised an eyebrow but followed after him. “You didn’t just bring it with you?”

Garak shrugged and pushed the door open, motioning him inside. “I wasn’t sure if you would be there. I don’t normally come in at closing.”

“You haven’t been coming in at all lately,” Julian countered. 

Garak sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. “Would you rather I came in for lunch like I used to? I had thought you were avoiding me.”

Julian blushed, annoyed his motives had been so clear. “Well if I were, could you blame me?”

Garak gave him a weak smile. “No, I don’t supposed I could.” He looked around for a moment. “Please, wait just a moment, I think I left it in the back room.” He disappeared through a small unlabeled door, leaving Julian alone in the shop.

Julian took advantage of the other man’s absence to have a look around. The store was small, but exceedingly neat. Along one wall were bolts of different cloth, all lined up in perfect order in a rainbow of hues, black on one end and white on the other. There were several racks filled with clothes, blouses and skirts and suits, even two wedding gowns. All had small yellow labels neatly pinned to them with the alteration information and owner’s names written on them in perfect script. There was a sewing machine on a work table on the back wall, and a serger next to it. Alongside them was a rack of bobbins with different threads would onto them, spools of thread, and several boxes of different buttons. It struck Julian as odd somehow. Garak, for all his perfect outfits, had never seemed overly interested in fashion. But looking around, it was clear that he was probably quite good at his job.

Next to the work table there was a smaller table and a comfortable looking chair. On the table there were books in neat little rows. Julian recognized some of them as titles Garak had lent him, others he wasn’t familiar with. There was an electric kettle next to them, and a little box full of teabags. It looked cozy, and Julian couldn’t help but imagine Garak sitting there, drinking some tea and reading a book on a break, and he had to fight not to smile. It wouldn’t do to be thinking of Garak that way now, not after what had happened.

Julian flinched when he heard the door behind him open, taking a quick step back from the table as if he were a child caught doing something naughty. That was another train of thought best left alone. 

Garak held out the sweatshirt, he had managed to fold it into a perfectly neat little bundle, and Julian had to bite back a laugh, because only Garak would ever bother to fold a sweatshirt. He took it from him gently, careful not to make a mess of it.

“Thank you.” He looked down at the sweatshirt and tightened his grip on it. “I have your shirt upstairs.”

Garak nodded slowly. “You could bring it down to me tomorrow, or even leave it by my mailbox, it’s no bother to me either way.”

Julian clutched the sweatshirt to his chest, suddenly aware of how much it smelled like Garak, tea and soap and something else. “You could just come upstairs and get it, it wouldn’t take long.”

Garak’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “I suppose I could do that.”

“Yes, I suppose you could.”

They exited the shop together, Garak locking the door behind them. As they entered the building, Julian had to keep his eyes trained on the ground to keep from staring at the other man. It was odd, they lived in the same building, but they had never been on the elevator together. It was strange to be so close, after all that had happened between them the last time they spoke, and to Julian, the ride seemed almost impossibly long. 

When the elevator door opened, Julian lead them both down the hall and opened the door to his apartment, stepping in first and letting Garak follow behind. Garak waited patiently as Julian went and got the shirt from where he had hung it on the back of the closet door. 

“Sorry I didn’t iron it or fold it or anything,” he said, holding it out. “I was fairly certain that I would ruin it if I tried.”

“It’s no problem at all, thank you for cleaning it for me.” Garak reached out to take the hanger.

At the same moment, Julian pulled his hand away slightly, moving the shirt just out of reach. “Before I give this back to you, I just want to ask you something.” 

Garak sighed and dropped his hand to his side. “And what exactly would that be Julian?”

“Why did you leave that night?” Julian hated himself for asking, He sounded whiney and pathetic, even to his own ear, but he also knew that he had to ask or he would never stop wondering. 

Garak frowned and looked at the floor, avoiding julian’s gaze. “I left because I thought better of my actions. What we were doing…” He looked up suddenly, blue eyes flashing. “Julian, what we were doing was wrong. I know you have no idea what I’m talking about, but believe me, I know better.”

Julian laughed harshly. “You know better? What, because you’re older?”

Garak rolled his eyes. “Not just because I’m older. Julian, like I said before, there are things you have no idea about, things about me you would not understand.”

Julian ran a hand through his hair, pulling at it angrily. “You have no idea what I know, and you have no idea what I might be able to understand!” He swung around and slammed his hand into the wall, fingers splaying outward. “You know, I heard some interesting rumors about you over the past few days.” He looked Garak up and down. “Some very interesting rumors.”

Garak’s face froze and his gaze hardened. “I see.” He kept his voice steady and low. “May I ask what sort of rumors they were?”

Julian pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to Garak, leaning in close enough to smell the spice of his aftershave. “A little bird told me that you were a member of the Obsidian order.”

Garak froze. He could feel Julian's words as much as he could hear them, his breath ghosting across his skin. “Well, what fanciful songs those little birds sing. I did not take you for a bird watcher my dear.”

Julian laughed despite himself. “Well, it’s a new hobby. So are you going to tell me if any of what i heard was true?”

Garak sighed and turned his head slightly, so that his face was close to Julian’s. “Oh, I imagine a good deal of it was true.”

Julian leaned in closer, his mouth almost touching Garak’s. “Even the lies?”

“Especially the lies.”

Julian pushed against Garak, pressing their lips together. The shirt dropped to the floor as he raised his arms to pull the older man closer, relishing the sturdy feeling of his body against him. He let his hands slide up, tangling into Garak’s hair.

Garak bit back a moan and pulled the younger man flush against him. He slid his hands up Julian’s back, sliding his shirt up one slow inch at a time. Julian’s skin felt warm under his hands, and all he wanted in that moment was to touch more of it, damn the consequences. He had tried to be a good man, he told himself, he had tried to dissuade Julian. And if he hadn’t tried quite hard enough, well it was hardly his fault. And was it so bad to enjoy himself a bit in his old age?

Julian, for his part, wasted no time in moving things ahead. He pulled back for a moment to shuck his shirt, grinning widely as garak gaped at him. “You going to do yours, or do you need help?” He reached out a hand to tug at Garak’s shirt, fiddling with the small buttons at his collar. “I’ve seen what’s under here already.”

Garak sighed and pulled back, reaching up his own hand to his collar, quickly and carefully undo the tiny buttons. As he did so, the shirt fell open, revealing the tattoos underneath. A flash of scales, a bit of a leaf or vive, until the shirt was lying on the floor forgotten. He kicked it aside thoughtlessly as he stepped forward, crowding Julian backward until he hit the arm of the couch. 

Julian fell back onto the couch, reaching out to grab Garak’s arm as he did. The older man allowed a smile before he fell over him, pushing Julian down into the cushions of the couch. He braced an arm over the opposite arm of the couch so he could keep his weight off of the younger man, and hovered above him, their bodies not quite touching. 

Julian reached up and pulled Garak down, hard. His skin felt almost cool to the touch, and as he ran his hands over the man’s back and arms and sides, he could feel small scars marring the skin, thin ridges hidden under the ink, not visible, but easy enough to feel. He amused himself with running his hands up and down the other man’s back, feeling his muscles shift under skin as Garak leaned down and captured his lips in another kiss. 

“You know, you really should be more careful my dear,” Garak said,pulling back and running a thumb down the side of Julian’s neck. He could feel his pulse, and he fought the urge to clamp his mouth down over the spot. “You never know what might happen if you put yourself into such a compromising position with a bad man like me.”

Julian huffed out a small laugh that turned into a groan as Garak pressed his thumb over his windpipe. “I have some idea of what happens in such compromising situations.” He bucked his hips up to emphasize the words.

Garak scowled and leaned in, putting his mouth right next to Julian’s ear. “Oh, you know do you? And here I was, treating you like some innocent with no idea what I planned for you.” He nipped at Julian’s ear lobe, relishing the startled gasp it bought him. “I guess I will just have to work harder.” He moved his mouth down, nipping at Julian’s neck, then moving down to sink his teeth into his prominent collarbone. He felt Julian tense and relax beneath him, and repeated the action again but harder. When he pulled back he noted the small bruise forming and smiled, pleased with the result. 

Julian wriggled underneath the older man, hands scrabbling over his back. “Garak,” he whined, pulling at his shoulders. “Please.” 

Garak pressed his face into Julian’s neck and smiled. “I like when you beg.”

Julian arched his back as he felt Garak sinking his teeth into his skin again. “I promise to do more begging if you keep going,” he panted.

Garak hummed and licked a warm wet stripe up Julian’s neck, biting at his jaw line. “Well that does sound pleasant,” he said, murmuring into Julian’s skin, breathing in the scent of him. “But I can think of better uses for that mouth.” He pressed his mouth to Julian’s again, biting at his bottom lip until his mouth opened. His tongue snaked into the younger man’s mouth, mapping out his teeth, tasting every bit of him. 

Julian tried to let himself relax, letting his mouth be plundered. He had never been with a man before, at least nothing more than a few moments of drunken kissing when he was an undergrad years before. Garak felt completely different, he felt warm and solid and strong. Julian was used to being the aggressor in sex. He hadn’t had too many partners, but when he did, he had felt comfortable taking them to bed, he had known what to do. Garak had taken over that role. He was taller than the older man, but much thinner, and Garak seemed to have no problems using him, pushing him down into the couch and holding him there. 

Julian gasped when Garak grabbed him y the shoulders and pulled him up, rocking them back so he was sitting up and Julian was sitting in his lap. In this position he could feel how hard the man was, and he blushed and squirmed against the bulge beneath him. Garak seemed to sense his hesitation and ran a soothing hand up and down his back, rubbing warm circles over his skin. 

“You look delicious like this,” Garak whispered, leaning back to get a better look at the young man. Julian looked debauched, face flushed, a sheen of sweat on his skin, and a number of dark bruises already blossoming along his neck and shoulders. His hair was mussed, and his eyes were glassy, and suddenly Garak needs to be touching more of him, damn the consequences. “Good enough to eat.” 

He pushed Julian back and grins as Julian sprawls across the couch cushions again. This time he kept himself propped up over the younger man. He kissed his way down Julian’s chest and stomach, biting here and there, dipping his tongue into Julian’s navel. When he got to the hem of his Julian’s jeans, he glanced up, pausing. 

“May I suck your cock?” He nuzzled his face against Julian’s fly, feeling how hard he already was. 

Julian flushed and nodded, turning his face away.

“No, tell me.” Garak mouthed the bulge through the fabric. “Tell me you want me to suck your cock.”

Julian groaned and looked down, throat tight. “Please,” he gasped. “please suck my cock. Please, please, please.”

Garak grinned widely, that predatory look Julian loved. He undid Julian’s top button with his teeth, happy with the way Julian’s eyes went wide as he did. It was good to know he could still surprise people sometimes. He pulled the zipper down with teeth, eyes going wide as Julian’s cock sprang out, hard and leaking. He spared a glance up at the younger man, raising an eyebrow at the lack of underwear. 

Julian shrugged and dug his fingers into Garak’s hair, urging the man to move downward. He took a sharp breath through his teeth at the first touch of Garak’s tongue on his skin. The man’s mouth was hot and wet, and the gentle scrape of teeth along the underside of his cock was almost too much. He tossed his head back and groaned, arching his hips upward, trying to drive the rest of his length into the man’s mouth.

Garak pulled back, holding Julian’s hips down forcibly. He sucked the tip into his mouth and slowly pushed Julian’s jeans further down, exposing inch after inch of tan thigh. He let his hands move down, fingernails scraping dully at the soft skin of Julian’s inner thigh, drawing another small desperate noise from the young man.   
Garak pushed Julian’s jeans down further, encouraging him to wiggle out of them fully. He pushed his legs apart and settled between them, pulling Julian’s legs up and over his shoulder. His tongue moved up and down, tasting Julian’s cock, then his balls, then lapping at his perineum. He chuckled as Julian tensed, the hands in his hair freezing for a moment before they dug in again, pulling hard.

“Garak…” Julian looked down and chewed his lip, unsure if he wanted to beg for Garak to stop or beg for him to continue. “Please.”

Garak toyed with the idea of making him beg again, but chose to be kind, dipping his head down further to bite at the little patch of skin, scraping his teeth over the warm skin. He pulled back and placed his hands under the younger man, easily lifting him up to his mouth. He lapped lazily at Julian, tongue slowly making it’s way down further until he was pressing his tongue into Julian’s entrance. 

“Oh fuck, bloody hell, please please…” Julian tossed his head back and closed his eyes, the sight of Garak opening him up with his tongue suddenly too much. If he looked, he would be undone, and as much as he wanted to come, he wanted Garak to continue even more. “Garak, I’m getting close.”

Garak ignored him, pushing his tongue in further, hands moving under Julian, kneading his ass slowly. He fucked Julian with his tongue, then pulled back and adjusted his position so he could press a finger into the now wet hole. He pressed gently, watching in fascination as his finger slipped inside to the first knuckle. He wanted to continue, he wanted to fuck Julian open with his fingers and feel how warm and tight he was, but he also knew that was a bad idea. Julian was virgin tight and tense and without lube this would be a painful experience rather than a pleasant one. So with a resigned sigh he moved back up so he could suck Julian’s cock into his mouth again. He moved his hand from Julian’s hole and began playing with his balls. 

Julian moaned at the feeling of Garak’s mouth on him. He had enjoyed the rimming, but the fingering had been a bit scary. He knew he wanted Garak to fuck him, he wanted to feel what it was like to be fucked by the older man, but he also knew it was probably going to hurt, at least at first. The cock sucking, that was nice, that was very nice. He hazarded a glance down, taken again by the sight of Garak, perfectly neat and tidy at all times Garak, flushed and groaning between his legs. The older man’s normally pale face was flushed slightly, his hair in a disarray from Julian’s hands, and he looked amazing. He had never looked better to Julian than he did that moment with his mouth wrapped around Julian’s cock and his cheeks hollowing as he sucked hard. When he looked up, his eyes locked on Julian, and that was it. The sight of those cold blue eyes staring up at him undid him, and Julian gasped and let out a noise that could maybe be described as a whimper as he came in Garak’s mouth. He was dimly aware of Garak continuing to suck, his tongue lapping at the oversensitive head of his cock.

Garak swallowed and licked his lips, keeping his eyes trained on Julian. Watching the young man come undone was amazing, It was a sight he would enjoy seeing again. He moved up and gently touched Julian’s face, more than a bit surprised when he turned his head to catch his lips in a kiss. Julian groaned and clutched at his shoulders when he tasted the remains of his orgasm in the older man’s mouth. 

Julian pulled back and stared into Garak’s eyes. “I want to…” He moved a hand down, fingers barely touching the bulge in the front of the man’s pants. “I want to get you off,” he forced out, obviously embarrassed by his own words.

Garak hesitated a moment. The idea of Julian sucking his cock was a very, very, pleasant one. But he also knew this was new to Julian, and that pushing him would be a bad idea. It was nice of Julian to offer to return the favor, but not really necessary, he had enjoyed himself immensely already. He was pulled from this train of thought by the sensation of fingers moving over his skin. Julian had undone the button fly on his pants and pushed his hand inside to draw out his cock, which was achingly hard. 

Julian eyed it for a moment. He had been able to tell form the bulge in his pants that Garak was well endowed, but face to face with it, it seemed dauntingly huge, and very thick. He took a deep breath to steady himself and was shocked by how much he enjoyed the scent of the other man’s cock. He moved in closer, breathing it in, and was shocked to find himself curious about the taste. He knew he wanted to get Garak off, but he hadn’t thought that the act of sucking cock itself would be so alluring. He flicked his tongue out to taste it, surprised that it mostly just tasted like skin. Warm skin. He moved to lap at the head, getting a taste of some of the fluid beginning to leak out of it. That had more of a taste, it was salty and slightly bitter, but not as bad as he had thought it might be. He carefully opened his mouth as wide as he could, mindful of his teeth, and lowered his mouth over Garak’s dripping cock.

Garak held his breath, his fingers scrabbling over the couch cushions as he tried to keep perfectly still. Julian’s mouth was inexperienced, but just the idea of the younger man’s mouth on his way almost enough to set him off. He resisted the urge to thrust his hips up and bury himself in the wet heat. He didn’t want to choke Julian, to overwhelm him his first time. 

“Ah, yes my dear, just like that. Mmm you look pretty like that, with your mouth wrapped around my cock,” Garak murmured, eyes devouring the boy. 

Julian did look good like that, face flushed, eyes dark with lust. His mouth was stretched wide to try and accommodate all of Garak inside his mouth. When Julian moved lower and tried to suck as much of Garak into his mouth as he could, the older man panted desperately, the sound turning into a loud groan when he felt Julian begin to gag a bit on his cock. It felt good, his throat spasming around his length. He could feel himself getting close.

“Julian, if you keep doing that, I am going to…” Julian did something to his cock and Garak found himself unable to form a coherent sentence.

Julian pulled back a for a moment and looked up, brown eyes locking onto blue ones. There was a thin line of sticky fluid connecting his bottom lip to the tip of Garak’s cock.

“Please Garak, come in my mouth, fill me up.” He looked Garak in the eyes as he spoke.

That was all it took. Garak reached down and pulled Julian down on his cock again, and almost immediately began to climax, filling the younger man’s mouth shot after shot of hot cum. Julian kept his eyes trained on Garak the whole time, and when there seemed to be no more cum to suck out of the man, Julian pulled back slowly, cleaning Garak’s over sensitive glans with his tongue, searching for any last taste. 

Garak hissed, drawing a sharp breath through his teeth at the overload of sensation. He pulled back, easing his cock out of Julian’s mouth entirely, and then pulled the young man up so they were eye to eye again. He pulled Julian in by his thin shoulders and kissed him, gently at first, letting it grow more urgent as he became aroused again tasting himself on the younger man’s lips. Julian’s lips were swollen and his face was flushed and Garak could smell the sex on the young man’s skin, and it was enough to get his cock to begin to stir again. 

Julian thrusted forward with a whine, drawing attention to his already renewed erection. “Please Garak, I’m so hard.” He pushed his hips into Garak, desperately trying to grind his cock into the other man’s leg, craving stimulation, any sort of friction at all.

Garak chuckled, low and almost menacing. “Hard again already?” He reached down and cupped Julian’s aching cock in his hand. “Did you enjoy sucking my cock that much? Such a good little slut.” The words were out before he could really consider them and he paused to judge Julian’s reaction. 

Julian’s breath caught at the word “slut”, and then he moaned wantonly, trying to arch into Garak’s hand. “Yeah, yes, yes, a good little slut.” He groaned when Garak pulled his hand away, wanting more of the touch. “I want to be a good little slut, a good little slut for you.”

Garak felt his own cock responding to the words. This was wrong, oh so deliciously wrong. Kissing Julian had been wrong, sucking his cock had been worse. Letting Julian return the favor of blowing his had been terrible. He was doing thing he knew he should not, but up till that moment it had felt like a pleasant dream. But hearing Julian in that moment, hearing those filthy words come out of that sweet mouth, that was especially evil. He was corrupting the poor boy, but it felt so good. And he so rarely had a chance to feel good anymore. 

Garak’s mind wandered for a moment, away from the sweet boy in front of him, and down to his shop. To his cold apartment. To the street outside, still dotted with puddles form recent rainstorms. So little in his current life brought him pleasure, so many things had been denied to him. He thought of the books on his shelves at home, the stash of fancy chocolate in his pantry, the small yellowish bottle of pills in his medicine cabinet, of Julian’s face open and happy as they chatted over lunch. He was able to enjoy so little, his old vices had been taken from him. He wondered what it would feel like to corrupt Julian. It would feel good, maybe good enough to make up for some of what he had lost. That was worth feeling bad about it wasn it?

“You will be my dear. You will be a perfect little slut for me,” Garak whispered into Julian’s ear as he gripped Julian’s cock more firmly. He slid their erection together and wrapped his hand around both, moving back and forth slowly and rhythmically. “I am going to taste every inch of you, mark every part of you I desire. I am going to make you come for me, again and again until you beg for rest.” He leaned forward and caught Julian's lips in another kiss, biting down on his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. 

It was enough to set Julian off again. He came with a harsh noise that Garak swallowed down, and the older man followed close behind, so both their stomachs were coated with cum. Julian slumped, warm and happy in the afterglow, and burrowed into the couch cushions. He smiled when he felt Garak settle against him, and he fell asleep with the smile still on his face.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after can be a little rough.

Julian woke up warm, and slightly confused. He was not in his bed. He was also not able to move. He looked down and smiled at the sight that greeted him. He was on the couch still, and Garak was mostly on top of him, his body wrapped around Julian’s like a boa constrictor. Asleep he looked younger, his face less tense, and his hair was a mess. Julian shifted so he could smooth the dark locks away from his face, smiling to himself at the memory from the night before, the way he had buried his hands into Garak’s hair as he sucked his cock. He blushed a bit and felt his cock stir a bit at the thought. He tried to wiggle back slightly so it wasn’t poking Garak right in the stomach, but frozen when he noticed Garak’s eyes were already open and trained on him.

“Uh, good morning?” Julian grinned crookedly. 

Garak frowned and buried his face back into Julian’s chest. “Hmmm…” He grumbled. “I would rather it not be morning quite yet.”

Julian laughed. “Yeah, this is pretty comfy.” The room was warm, and soft sunlight streamed through the window. It was hard to think about anything besides how comfortable he was.

He reached down with one hand and felt around on the floor by the couch, trying to locate his jeans without forcing Garak to move too much. He smiled triumphantly when he found them and fished around in the pocket, pulling out his cell phone. The grin faded when he pressed the unlock button on the side, his phone was dead. 

“Garak, can you reach your phone from where you are? Mine’s dead and I want to know what time it is.”

Garak groaned and reached out blindly for the coffee table, feeling around until he located his phone and then handed the device to Julian without looking up. “There. It should still have a charge, I barely used it yesterday.”

Julian tapped the home key to bring up the lock screen, and his eyes went wide. “Oh fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” He pushed insistently at Garak’s shoulder. “We need to get up, right now! Oh my god, fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!” He scrambled out from under the older man and promptly tripped over his discarded sneakers, landing flat on his face. 

“Are you quite all right my dear?” Garak propped himself up on the couch and leaned over to inspect Julian. “You seem to be in quite a state this morning.”

Julian pushed himself up and felt at his own face, grimacing when his hand came away sticky with blood. “Oh damn. I think I might have broken my nose.” He pushed himself into a sitting position and felt carefully at his face. “Yep, broken for sure,” he sighed and turned his head up as if consulting the heavens. “I am already late and now my nose is broken, why is this happening to me?”

Garak bit back a laugh. “Perhaps we should get you cleaned up,” he suggested, moving off the couch so he could help Julian to his feet. “I think a shower is in order.”

Julian tried to shrug him off. “I really don’t have time for that right now Garak, I’m already late.” He tried to to pull away, making a line for the closet. 

Garak reached out and grabbed him. “Julian, you are covered in blood and sweat and...other fluids.” he yanked the boy back, into his arms. “You smell like sex, and I don’t think going to work in a such a state will be appreciated.” he buried his face in the young man’s neck, inhaling deeply. It was a pleasant smell, a mix of Julian’s sweat and and his own, layered under a stronger smell of semen. He licked Julian’s neck experimentally, enjoying the salty taste of dried sweat on his skin.

Julian whined and squirmed, still trying to get away. “But I’m late! Kira and Mr. Sisko will kill me!” Garak’s ministrations were pleasant, but he knew he needed to focus on getting to work. 

Garak shook his head and tightened his grip. “Well you know, in for a penny, in for a pound.” he gave Julian a kiss on the head and released him. “You’re already late, you might as well be late and clean.” He grinned over his shoulder as he walked towards the bathroom, beckoning for Julian to follow.

Julian cursed and followed him, knowing he was right. Showing up late was bad enough, but showing up late and reeking of last night’s activities would be sure to push Kira over the edge. The hot water felt good anyways, and Garak looked good wet and covered in soap suds. When Garak offered to scrub his back he felt no need to say no, and if they lost track of time all over again it wasn’t really anyone’s fault. There was no clock in the bathroom after all.

They stumbled out half an hour later and when Julian caught sight of the clock he nearly screamed. He ran around the apartment in frantic circles, looking for a clean uniform shirt, hopping into his jeans, yelling about his sneakers (which had slid under the couch when he tripped over them) and generally acting like a chicken with it’s head cut off. At the same time Garak calmly dressed and helped himself to a cup of tea, watching Julian with no small interest as he walked by his hat for the third time while yelling about he had lost it.

After the fourth time Garak gave in and helped him, handing Julian the cap. “Are you always this bad in the morning?”

“No, I am not!” Julian snapped, grabbing the hat and marching off to the bathroom stiffly. A moment after the door closed there was a loud yelp. “Garak!”

Garak rushed over to the bathroom, half afraid Julian had managed to fall and hurt himself again. “Julian, are you alright dear?” He tapped gently on the door.

Julian swung the door open, his face red with anger. “I am NOT alright!” He pointed to his neck, which was covered in large bruises. “Look what you did to me! I’m one giant hickey!!”

Garak reached out delicately prodded at the discolored skin.”Well, yes, you sort of are,” he admitted. “But you certainly didn’t seem to mind what I was doing last night.” The bruises were dark, nasty purple things, large and splotchy and covering most of Julian’s neck on the front and left side. He hadn’t meant to leave any mark this bad, or in a place so obviously visible, but it had been hard to resist. Every time he had kissed or licked Julian’s neck the young man had responded so well, and so he had gone a bit overboard. but really, it was Julian’s fault for making such lewd noises in the first place.

Julian threw his head back and wailed. “I look like I’ve been mauled!” He turned and looked in the mirror, poking at his face. “And on top of that my broken nose is making me look like I spent last night boxing with Mr. Sisko.” He groaned as he noticed a thin trickle of blood leaking out of one nostril. “Shit, and my nose won’t stop bleeding.” He hung his head, shoulders slumped. He looked utterly defeated.

Garak handed him a tissue. “Maybe work is not the best idea Julian.” He frowned and tilted his head, taking a good look at Julian’s face. There was a dark bruise already forming on the boy’s face, and the bridge of his nose looked a bit swollen and dark. “You should go see a doctor and have this looked at to make sure it is ok.” He reached out to touch Julian’s face. He didn’t have any real medical training to speak of, but he damned well knew a broken nose when he saw one. He reached up without thinking and felt along the bridge of his own nose, feeling the small bump there. His own nose had been broken more than a few times over the years he was in service to Cardassia.

Julian smacked his hand away. “Oh no. I am a medical student and in my professional opinion I am just fine. The bleeding should stop any minute.” He glanced in the mirror, saw the blood was still leaking out, and shoved the tissue up his nose, pushing it in to block the blood flow. It didn’t look dignified, and it hurt like hell, but it would simply have to do for the moment. He didn’t have time to be bleeding all over the place.

Garak sighed and shook his head. “Whatever you say dear.” He headed back into the living room and made sure the place was as tidy as he could get it. It was easier to focus on that than trying to argue with Julian, who clearly too upset to be thinking straight at the moment. “Would you like me to escort you down to the restaurant my dear?” he called out. He was wary of leaving Julian alone even for a moment after the disaster he had been all morning, but he also didn’t want the young man to think he was hovering. Was it right to hover, he wondered, or was it better to let Julian be, and allow the young man some time to get himself together. He shook his head, trying to clear the mess of thoughts from his head.

Julian emerged from the bathroom grim faced, with his cap on his head and his uniform buttoned as high as it would go. It did precious little to cover up his hickeys, and he still looked like he had been attacked. He shot Garak a nasty look as he approached the door, pocketing his keys and dead cell phone.

“I am so going to get you back for this eventually,” he muttered darkly. “I don’t know how, but I swear I will.”

Garak smiled and took Julian by the arm as he lead them to the elevator. “You know Julian, I find you very attractive when you make threats.” He waited until the elevator door closed and they were alone, then leaned over and gently kissed Julian on the cheek.

Julian made it down to Deep Dish Nine right before the lunch crowd was due to start spilling in. Garak left him at the door and went off to his own shop, planning on working for a while. Inside the restaurant, Jadzia and Kira were at the counter. Jadzia was cleaning the glass on the display case and Kira was refilling the register with change and putting in a new roll of receipt paper. When Kira and Jadzia saw him their eyes went wide and they quickly grabbed him and dragged him into the back room, leaving Jake to sit at the register. The young man sighed when they asked, but pulled up a stool to the counter, bringing his book with him.

In the back room Jadzia and Kira sat Julian down, forcefully, in a chair while they rushed around getting him a cup of ice and a mug of coffee. Jadzia grabbed some napkins from the cabinet and handed them to Julian so he could wipe at the blood under his nose.

“Julian! What in the world happened to you?” Jadzia reached out and poked Julian’s sore and swollen nose. “You look awful!”

“Well, thanks!” Julian huffed and pulled back, away from the roaming fingers. “It’s nothing really.” He turned his head away and grabbed for the coffee, glad to finally have some caffeine. he needed it after the morning he had been having,

Kira stared at him hard. “You have blood coming out of your nose and you’re more than two hours late with no notice. Whatever this,” she pauses to gesture to him, waving her hand up and down. “it is clearly something.” She shifted in her seat to lean forward. “Now, you either tell us what’s going on right now or I’m going to call Sisko and Odo right now and you can explain it all to them.”

Julian looked at the floor, suddenly unwilling to make eye contact. “Well, Jadzia, you know I was fighting with Garak, right?”

Kira jumped up. “Garak? He did this?” Her face went red and her eyes were so wide the whites showed all around. “Julian, I know i may be a bit hard on you, but you are my friend and there is no way I am going to let someone treat you like this! I am going to call Odo! I swear to the Prophets I am going to kill that slimy little-” 

“Garak didn’t do this!” Julian waved his hands franticly. “Or rather, he did these,” he paused to gesture at his neck. “But he didn’t break my nose. That was all my own doing.” He slumped in his seat, silently praying the floor would open up beneath him and swallow him whole, rescuing him from this torture. “please don’t call Odo, that is the last thing I need.”

Kira stopped and looked at him hard, and when Julian met her eye without hesitation she nodded and sat back down. “Fine, but just so you know, I am still not happy about all this. Particularly about you missing work because of...whatever you were doing with Garak last night.” She made a face at the last words, nose scrunching up like someone had poured salt in her coffee instead of sugar.

Jadzia took it upon herself to lighten the mood. “Congratulations on discovering you like your pizza with sausage Julian.” Jadzia clapped Julian on the shoulder, giggling hysterically.

Kira nearly fell off her chair. “Jadzia Dax!” Her face was so red it almost perfectly matched her uniform shirt. “Please don’t say things like that! At least not in front of me.” She scrunched up her face and shook her head vigorously, as if she could shake out the images Jadzia had put in her head.

Jadzia shrugged, a sweet, innocent smile on her face. “What? Don’t tell me gay men bother you Nerys.” She leaned across the table and waggled her eyebrows at the other woman suggestively. “I mean, what’s wrong with two people of the same sex loving each other?”

Kira scowled at the taller woman. “No they don’t and you should know that. I’m not a bigot.” She turned to look at Julian again. “I’m really not. I just hate Garak. Or rather, all Cardassians.” She had the decency to at least look emabarassed when she said it.

Jadzia fought back a laugh. “Sounds a bit bigoted.” She balled up one of the napkins she had grabbed and tossed it gently at the other woman.

Kira shook her head and leaned forward to get a better look at Julian’s face. “Well, aside form the hickeys, you’re still in no shape to work. Your nose is still dripping blood, we can’t have you around food like this.” She pushed herself back from the table and stood up. 

Mr. Sisko chose that moment to make his appearance in the break room. He grinned when he saw the back of Julian’s head. “Julian! I was wondering what happened to you.” He clapped the young man on the shoulder warmly.

“Oh, uh sorry for being so late Mr. Sisko.” Julian turned and smiled sheepishly. 

Sisko blinked and gripped Julian’s shoulder harder. “Damn! What happened to you?” He pulled Julian around, the chair screeching a bit on the tile floor, so they were facing one another.

Julian winced at the painful grip. “Oh nothing, just a dumb accident this morning.” He sunk lower in the chair, trying to avoid meeting Sisko’s intimidating gaze. 

“I was just sending him to the hospital Benjamin,” Kira interjected. “He’s no use here like that.”

Sisko nodded slowly, still not taking his eyes off of Julian. “I suppose you’re right,” he said slowly. “Jadzia, can you cover for him?” He glanced up at the woman in question.

Jadzia nodded. “No problem Ben.” She stood up and headed for the front of the restaurant, patting Julian gently on the head as she passed him.

Sisko finally let go of Julian’s shoulder, sighing loudly. “Julian, if you want, you can take the delivery car to the hospital. I don’t want you having to wait for a bus while you’re bleeding out.” 

Julian smiled gratefully. “Thanks. I don’t know how I am to drive right now, but I guess Garak can take me if that’s ok?”

Sisko nodded and patted Julian gently on the shoulder as he headed back to the kitchen. Benjamin Sisko loved his employees but they were often more of a pain than he thought was entirely worth it. He often blamed himself for their rather unorthodox behavior. He knew he was a bit lenient on them, but it was hard, when they all seemed so young. Sometimes he felt like was something of a father figure for all of them. 

Julian was pleased to find Garak in his shop, and that the man didn’t seem surprised at the request to drive him to the hospital. In fat, it almost seemed like he had been expecting it, he was sitting in the back working on some small projects, and the sign on the door hadn’t been flipped to read “open” and the main lights weren’t on. Julian smiled gratefully at the older man when he handed him a small packet of tissues and lead them around the building to where the car was parked.

The ride to the hospital was shockingly uneventful. Garak was a careful driver and the delivery car managed to behave for the duration of the trip. The delivery cr was something of a sore point for Julian. While most pizza places had plain vans or beat up old sedans for delivery runs, Deep Dish Nine had something a bit different. 

Nicknamed “The Defiant” for it’s tendency to disobey the driver (and for the numerous parking and moving violations people tended to gain while driving it), the delivery car Sisko had bought was something special. It was an old muscle car of some sort, the exact make and model were now impossible to identify. Sisko had bought it a few years back, right after his wife died and began working on it non stop, he had completely overhauled it. Now it was an amazing, if somewhat temperamental vehicle, capable of amazing speeds, outfitted with a loud sound system and the worst handling of anything Julian had ever been inside. Worf had even bought a few cans of paint and let Nog, Jake and their friends paint the outside. They had gone with an amazing pattern of blue and purple flames on a field of deep red, making the car seem like it was being propelled by rockets instead of wheels. Ziyal, a friend of Jake’s form school, had carefully stenciled the Dish Nine Logo on the hood in glossy black paint, and the overall effect was rather remarkable. 

Technically, Julian wasn’t allowed to drive the car, it wasn’t a part of his job. Worf was normally in charge of deliveries (he was the one who had insisted on the better sound system, one more suited for the volume he liked for listening to opera), but he had been taken on a ride once or twice before. He had spent most of the ride pressed against the door with his hands in a death grip on the “holy shit” handle. Worf had told him it behavior unbecoming a warrior. 

Now, Garak grimaced and kept a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel as he maneuvered the car as carefully as possible down the winding side streets to the hospital. He drove exactly the speed limit the entire way. He had his eyes trained on the road, and Julian wasn’t sure if he had so much as blinked since they set out.

“Are you always this careful of a driver? Or is this because you’re borrowing Mr. Sisko’s baby?” Julian asked, stretching his legs out as best as he could. the defiant had clearly not been made for comfort, or with someone of his height in mind. Worf looked almost comical getting in and out of the thing, being the only person at Deep Dish Nine who was even taller than Julian. 

“Actually, I don’t drive much,” Garak commented lightly, still not looking away from the road. “I don’t even have a valid driver’s license for this country.” He reached out and turned on his turn signal as they approached an intersection.

Julian fought back a sudden burst of panic. “What? you don’t? Then why did you offer to drive me?” He looked out the window, scanning the area for any sign of a police car. There were none.

“Because my dear, you were in no state to drive and making you take a bus in your current condition would have been cruel.” Garak pulled the car sharply left and into the hospital parking garage. “And I am being a gentleman.” He opened the door and stepped out, walking around the car so he could open Julian’s door for him.

“You’re acting like I’m an invalid,” Julian whined. “And driving without a license is a really bad idea.” He climbed awkwardly out of the car, keeping one hand on the tissues pressed into his still dripping nose. 

“I will strive to keep that in mind for the future.” Garak grabbed Julian’s arm and lead him through the garage and into the building. “But for now, let’s focus on getting you to a doctor before you pass out from blood loss.”

“I’m not bleeding that much,” Julian muttered under his breath, earning himself a stern look from Garak. Julian yanked free as they got inside and made a beeline for the nurses station. He recognized a few of the men and women standing there and waved at one in particular.

“Julian?” Nurse Chapel ran over and grabbed the young man by the shoulders, her eyes wide. “What in the world happened to you?” She began steering him down a hall and towards an examination room. “Oh, come along, let’s get someone to have a look at you.”

Julian looked over his shoulder and gestured for Garak to follow after him. He was hoping Nurse Chapel would be good enough to get one of the doctors he wasn’t working under so that he could be spared a repeat of the incident at the pizza parlor. Unfortunately they ran into Dr. Spock and Dr. McCoy in hall, walking back from the surgical wing. 

“Julian Bashir, what the fuck happened to you kid?” McCoy grabbed Julian away from Nurse Chapel and dragged him into the exam room, a deep scowl on his face. “You look like someone’s done a hell of a number on you.” He shot a quick look back at garak, who was following behind with Spock and Chapel.

Nurse Chapel pursed her lips. “Should I get some supplies from one of the emergency room suites doctor?”

Dr. McCoy nodded absently, already reaching out to prod at Julian’s face, large hands touching his face and pressing gently at the bridge of Julian's nose. “Yes nurse, and see if you can squeeze him into line in radiology, he needs an xray, I’m pretty certain his nose is broken, but I want a good look at the damage to see just how bad it is.” He waved his hand in the general direction of the the radiology wing. “In fact, better get the x-ray taken care of first, I think there’s some basic supplies already in here and it doesn’t look like he needs stitches or anything.”

The nurse nodded quickly and rushed out with a final sympathetic look to Julian. She gave Garak an odd look as she passed him in the doorway, clearly, unsure of who he was and why he had followed them back to the exam room. Garak gave her one of his best charming smiles, and she blushed a bit as she hurried away. Julian fought the urge to roll his eyes. Leave it to Garak to get on Nurse Chapel’s good side right away.

 

Spock turned to look Garak. “Did you bring Julian in today?”

Garak nodded. “Yes. My name is Garak, I am a...friend of Julian’s.” He hesitated for only a moment over the word friend, shooting Julian a quick look out of the corner of his eye. “I did not think Julian was in a fit state to drive himself and having him wait for a bus liek this didn’t seem right.”

Spock nodded solemnly. “True. It is good you brought him in. Doctors, even doctors in training, are often the worst patients. He might not have sought proper treatment on his own.” He shot Dr. McCoy a pointed look as he said the latter part.

Dr. mccoy rolled his eyes at his husband. “Oh, darlin’ you do not want me to start talking about what a pain in the ass you are when you need medical care.” He turned back to his patient. “So, Julian, just go ahead and hop up on the exam table so I can get a good look at you.” McCoy patted the exam table, smoothing out the thin paper that covered it. “Spock, can you get me some stuff to clean him up? There’s supplies in the cabinet over the sink.” 

Dr. Spock went to the cabinet and took out a bottle of disinfectant, some gauze, gloves, cotton balls and medical tape. He placed them all carefully onto a tray he found in another cabinet and brought it over for Dr. McCoy. “Here you are Leonard.”

McCoy grabbed the gloves and quickly slid them on before getting to work. “You know Julian, this really don’t look too good.” He soaked a cotton ball in disinfectant and began dabbing at Julian’s face, removing the blood that had crusted under his nose and down his face. “Care to explain what happened?”

Julian shifted awkwardly in the seat, suddenly uncomfortable. Dr. McCoy was a great doctor, but he was also someone Julian worked with closely on a regular basis. Telling him the truth meant telling him he had woken up after a night of kinky sex with his much older boyfriend (was Garak his boyfriend now?) and fallen on his stupid face when he got up.

Dr. Spock looked at Garak for a moment and then seemed to notice the unease Julian was exhibiting. “I think, Leonard, that the injuries may be of a slightly…” He paused for a moment, carefully choosing his words. “Personal nature.” He turned and gave Garak a meaningful look, all arched eyebrows and expectant silence.

Garak nodded silently and had to the good sense not to try one of his fake smiles on Dr. Spock, which Julian was immensely grateful for. 

“Hmm, that right?” McCoy cocked an eyebrow at Julian, noting the blush on the young man’s face. “Well, I can’t really say much about it, that’s for sure. Not like I don’t know how that is.” He turned slightly and gave Spock and Garak a measured look. “Sometimes people get a bit carried away. But you sure you’re all right?” He turned back and looked Julian right in the eye. 

Julian nodded, or tried to, his face still being held in place by the doctor. “My nose didn’t get broken like that,” he insisted, still intent on clarifying. “I had dumb accident this morning.” he paused, obviously embarrassed. “I got up and tripped over my sneakers and fell right on my face.”

There was a sound of a muffled snort form near the door and McCoy and Julian both looked over. Garak was leaning against the doorway still, one hand over his mouth, obviously trying to hide a smile. Spock was staring at the floor, suddenly very interested in the pattern on the floor tiles, and he was obviously struggling to hide his own amusement.

“Oh, come on guys, it isn’t that funny!” Julian protested, scowling at them. It was bad enough his friends and boss had seen him like this at the pizza shop, but being embarrassed in front of his teachers and colleagues at the hospital was somehow worse. The hospital was the one place where he was treated like an adult instead of a child, respected in some small measure. 

“Actually kid, in my expert medical opinion, it is pretty damned funny.” McCoy grinned and stripped off the gloves, tossing them into the same waste bin he had thrown the soiled cotton balls. Julian’s face had finally stopped bleeding, and he looked much better cleaned up. “But don’t worry these things happen. Besides, I’m a doctor, I can certainly handle it. You have no idea some of the shit I saw as a younger man in the Navy. The Fleet is a great organization but they let some crazies in you know.” He laughed to himself, clearly remembering something from his youth.

Julian raised an eyebrow. He knew Dr. McCoy and Dr. Spock had both been in the navy in their younger years, and that they had in fact when serving aboard a military vessel, McCoy as the ship’s doctor and Spock as a Commanding Officer and scientist. Once or twice they had told him stories of their days at sea, and the crazy medical situations that arose on board a large military vessel. 

“Leonard, does he not remind you of anyone?” Spock smirked and raised an eyebrow. If Julian hadn’t known better he would have said Spock looked mischievous in that moment 

McCoy made a noise between a laugh and a groan. “Oh lord, Jim, kid was always turning up with weird sex injuries. Every time we went into port he would come back looking liek he had been through the wringer.” 

Spock shook his head slightly. “Actually Leonard, I was thinking of you.” He fixed his husband with a pointed look that made the other man blush and turn away.

“Damnit Spock! I am a doctor, not some sort of porn star, I normally keep that stuff fairly private.” McCoy whirled around and fixed Julian with a steely gaze. “You know, he runs his mouth about me but he never mentions whose fault those damned injuries were.” He jabbed a finger behind him accusingly. “He was a damned pervert when he was younger.”

Julian coughed loudly to cover the sound of his own small snort of disbelief. McCoy shot him a dirty look. Julian looked away, catching Garak’s eye over the doctor’s shoulder. Garak shrugged and smiled, clearly somewhat amused by the whole thing.

Spock frowned. “Leonard, I think you might be confused. It was you who initially approached me about the subject of a mutually beneficial sexual relation-”

“Spock, I have no idea what you could possibly mean. Now if you would kindly shut up and let me work.” McCoy snorted and turned his attention to Julian’s neck. A few of the love bites had left the skin raw and and in some places teeth had broken skin. “There’s a few abrasions here I want to have cleaned up.”

Spock frowned more deeply and tilted his head slightly. “Leonard, I seem to very clearly recall multiple occasions where coitus lead you to have similar and worse injuries. I am shocked you do not seem to remember.”

McCoy’s hands stilled and his face went red. “Spock! You can’t just say things like that! You god damned-” 

They were all saved form McCoy’s rage by the reappearance of Nurse Chapel. She stood in the doorway with a clipboard, smiling widely, obviously used to McCoy’s behavior. 

She cleared her throat loudly, trying to get the doctors’ attention. “Doctors?” She waited for the men to turn and notice her. “I was able to get a spot in the x-ray lab for Julian. If you wouldn’t mind me taking the patient down to radiology?” She gestured to the hall behind her.

Julian took advantage of the situation to slide off of the exam table and hurry towards the door, grabbing Garak and dragging him behind him. “Well, excuse us, Dr. Spock, Dr. McCoy. I’ll see you when I’m done so we can go over the x-rays and see about you setting my nose.” He hurried into the hall before they could respond, but when he closed the door behind him he could hear the sound of Dr. McCoy starting to yell again. Something about bastards with silly haircuts telling everyone about their sex life. Julian shuddered slightly and rushed to catch up with Nurse Chapel. 

The x-ray came back with pretty clear results. Julian had indeed broken his nose. Dr. McCoy set it easily, taped it, and gave Julian a prescription for painkillers.

When he handed over the pills he had given Garak a hard look. “Be careful with him.” He reached out and ruffled Julian’s hair. “We like this one.” Spock nodded behind him.

Garak smiled and pulled Julian into his side. “I don’t think that will be a problem Doctor, I intend to take very good care of him.”

Back in the car, Julian sighed and pushed his seat back as far as he could. “Well, today was a nightmare,” he declared. “A complete nightmare.”

Garak paused, key in hand, and turned to him. “I am sorry Julian.” He leaned across the stick shift and took Julian’s hand. “I will endeavor to make it up to you my dear.”

Julian allowed himself to smile, giving Garak’s hand a squeeze. “I bet you will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! I hope everyone liked this story, there's going to be more stuff in this universe, I just didn't want things to get too long. Thanks to everyone who read and a special shout out to people who gave kudos and commented.


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